Direction: Mounia Akl
Country: Lebanon
Mounia Akl administers an elegant direction in her feature debut, Costa Brava, Lebanon, having co-written the script with Clara Roquet (10,000 Km, 2014; Libertad, 2021). She put together a strong cast with Saleh Bakri and Nadine Labaki in the center roles along with the young actresses Nadia Charbel and Seana Restom, the latter being a wonderful revelation in her first screen appearance.
This observant, political, and human Lebanese drama film, whose title refers to a once beautiful beach turned dumping near Beirut, is set in the near future and deals with the Lebanese waste crisis. The hot-tempered Walid (Bakri) and the singer/songwriter Soraya (Labaki), both former activists, abandoned Beirut eight years ago to live secluded in the mountains with their two daughters - the superstitious nine-year-old Rim (Restom), and the 17-year-old Tala (Charbel), who's in full sexual awakening - and Walid’s terminally ill mother, Zeina (Liliane Chacar Khoury). Their peace is suddenly disrupted when the government announces an ecological landfill adjacent to their house. An ongoing tension installs within the family as the surroundings deteriorate and their health is threatened.
Costa Brava is a scathing story of resistance to elusive governmental machinations as well as a story of tiredness and ultimately liberation. It works both as a news bulletin, a coming-of-age disenchantment, and a shout of protest treated in a sober mode. At times, we can almost sense the toxicity that suffocates and embitters the household. To flee or to resist? That’s the dilemma faced by self-imposed ‘prisoners’ in another tough wrestle with a corrupt political system.
