Frame from the film Letter from Beirut by Jocelyne Saab. (Credit: Jocelyne Saab Association)
Artistic blurConsidered the spark that ignited the Civil War, the attack on the Ain al-Rummaneh bus on April 13, 1975, remains shrouded in shadows and false certainties. Despite the event never truly being documented, many Lebanese hold onto images of it. “The bus attack holds a central place in the collective memory, a sort of screen scene of the Civil War that is both very vague and deeply entrenched,” said Marwan Shahine, author of Beirut, April 13, 1975, autopsy of a spark. “Our perception stems from family stories and the fiction that quickly seized upon the event, spreading some falsehoods.” The most famous depiction is undoubtedly by Ziad Doueiri in the film West Beirut: the young protagonist, Tarek, witnesses it from his school window.This is indeed a fictional representation with several historical inaccuracies. In the film,...
Artistic blurConsidered the spark that ignited the Civil War, the attack on the Ain al-Rummaneh bus on April 13, 1975, remains shrouded in shadows and false certainties. Despite the event never truly being documented, many Lebanese hold onto images of it. “The bus attack holds a central place in the collective memory, a sort of screen scene of the Civil War that is both very vague and deeply entrenched,” said Marwan Shahine, author of Beirut, April 13, 1975, autopsy of a spark. “Our perception stems from family stories and the fiction that quickly seized upon the event, spreading some falsehoods.” The most famous depiction is undoubtedly by Ziad Doueiri in the film West Beirut: the young protagonist, Tarek, witnesses it from his school window.This is indeed a fictional representation with several historical inaccuracies. In the...
