Hmmm…. I am not sure how piracy will help the cause here.

Great idea!!!

I’ve heard about the Story on France24 – I’m glad the the Lebanese Government has overturned its decision. I see no reason for it to be banned.

Don’t forget boycotting arab summits that are supposed to help solve our problems.

Thank you so much for putting this up! I hadn’t seen it before.

The little girl is a bit too Amelie, though.

I’m against the banning of Temptation of Christ as well as Da Vinci Code.

I have seen this movie a couple of month ago and I think its brilliant.

People might say it is one sided, and I might say true since it doesn’t show any positive sides from the Mullah Regime (If there is any!!). But every single detail shown in the movie is very true. It just retells the stories of my old Iranian friend who is now living in self exile.
The movie itself is similar to George Orwell’s book the Animal Farm.

I am really happy that this movie will be shown in Lebanon for two reasons:
1- Censorship should not be tolerated at any level.
2- Simply it is a great movie, great art exists in it with visual effects, with great music. The plot is rich that includes many aspects in subtle ways.

The movie is very good and it deserved its nomination irrelevant of the current political situation in the world.

Fight censorship!!!!

Completely unrelated, but something I thought you Lebanese bloggers might be interested in: Christian and Muslim Lebanese really are two breeds apart–and not merely for religious reasons–according to a new genetic study. Of course, these differences may not be that significant (though they do trump geographical differences), but the genetic history of the region is certainly fascinating. Contrary to previous thinking on this subject, it seems that both the Arab expansion and the Crusades have definitely left a mark on Lebanon’s inhabitants.

Thank you Mustapha for putting this film on your Website. When I learned that the story is real (based on the biography of Marjane Satrapi) I was truly impressed. I hope it gets as wide a distribution as possible. Getting subtitles in Arabic and Farsi might give it a chance to make a little headway (in spite of censorship) in places that could really use it – like in Nasrallahland. I’m betting that people who understand English/French for the most part have positive opinions. For those who are interested check out Google for the movie, “Persepolis”. The applause goes through the roof.

Tommy’s genetic comment, I refer him to the studdy done by Dr Zalloua for National Geographic where DNA samples proved irrefutably that lebanese irrespective of religion mainly from coastal areas share the same phoenician DNA.

If you read the link above, you’ll see Dienekes specifically mentions the National Geographic study and some of the problems with it:

As I predicted, the finding of similarity between Christian and Muslim Lebanese in the older National Geographic story on Wells’ and Zalloua’s work was premature, based on their common possession of Y-haplogroup J, because it did not look at downstream markers which differentiate between Christians and Muslims. As I observed based on the work of Capelli et al., it is the overrepresentation of Y-haplogroup J*(xJ2), which comprises almost entirely of J1 chromosomes that is the mark of the Arab descent of Muslim Lebanese.

I have little doubt that the majority of the Lebanese gene pool predates both the Arab expansion and the Crusades, but these later contributions are not as insignificant as once thought and they do fall along predictable religious lines.

Heck, those studies you smartasses are quoting remind me of similar “scientific” studies commissioned by the Nazis about racial purity and the Aryan race.

Why the **** are we talking about genetics and DNA here? Why are there still people out there who think this crap matters? Race, religion, genetics…This is the kind of thinking that belongs in the past. We’re all Lebanese. I don’t give a rats’ ass about phoenicians and crusaders and whoever else mingled their blood to create me. I am myself. Defined by my actions.

It isn’t about who you are in particular. It also isn’t about personal responsibility. It is just interesting to look back and see the component peoples that came to make up the modern Lebanese as a whole and how it came to pass. It’s part of history and the making of a culture and while you may not find those things very fascinating, I think many other people would disagree with you.

Heck, those studies you smartasses are quoting remind me of similar “scientific” studies commissioned by the Nazis about racial purity and the Aryan race.

This isn’t about defining a hierarchy of superior or inferior races–the study doesn’t do that. Instead, it simply helps resolve a long-standing question: are the modern Lebanese the descendants of the Phoenicians, Arab invaders, or others and to what extent? And, like it or not, this is indeed science and not Nazi pseudoscience.

I understand that it’s “interesting” to some. But it’s also irrelevant. The only people who find this information relevant, are those who will then use it for such slogans as “We are Phoenician, not Arabs” or any number of similar sloganeering (Christian, vs. Muslim, etc.)

Well, I don’t see what it matters what Lebanese call themselves: Phoenicians, Arabs, whatever. Can’t they just be Lebanese and take some pride in their interesting and apparently complicated history? It’s a history that shows that they are Phoenicians, Arabs, and even a bit of European and not any particular group exclusively. I would think this study would discourage sloganeering because it demonstrates that reality is more complex than any simple slogan can account for.

I guess that makes some of us “Africans” or “Asians”…I’m sure there’s also some Pharaonic blood in there somewhere. Which I suppose means something to someone…

And yes it does. I find the prehistory and the evolution of the human race to be very interesting. You aren’t at all curious as to where we humans originated from, who are ancestors were, and how we got where we are today? Would you prefer we not know or leave it to mythology, superstition, or unverified theory to provide us with explanations? I’ll leave it at that.

A powerful movie, Mustapha. Thanks for posting it. The idea of using animation rather than actors was brilliant – it allows the screenwriter and artists to emphasize what is most important directly, and even to add ironies and caricatures that otherwise might have been missed.