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Bruce says: “THE LAST MAN is my first Lebanese
vampire movie. Don’t think I’m cracking some kind of Rosie
O’Donnell joke or making a vague reference to Charles Busch’s
‘Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.’ This film is serious and, sadly, the vampire
is a metaphor for the malaise that has enveloped Lebanon. Like FALAFEL,
which also screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, THE LAST MAN laments
the decay of Beirut.
“Carlos Chahine stars in the role of a leading Beirut doctor to
whom everyone turns for healing and for guidance. He is called in for
consultations, sought out for his opinions on autopsies and revered by
his patients. When a series of deaths occur among the young men and women
of Beirut, the teeth marks on the neck of the victims leave no doubt in
anyone’s mind as to what’s going on. The word ‘vampire’ is
not mentioned giving pause for thoughts about whether the deaths are real
or symbolic.
“The doctor is becoming worn down and indeed he appears to have
some sort of virus that drains him of energy. As the body count rises,
the doctor begins to wonder about himself. Was he also the target of the
vampire? Did the vampire botch his job and leave no visible marks, just
symptoms that he might be dying? As the doctor’s behavior becomes
more erratic, he forgets to show up at the hospital preferring to walk
the vacant streets and narrow alleys of Beirut in the night.
“The film reveals the desperate situation in Beirut today. Director
Salhab ponders this despair and suggests even the men who were once healers,
the men in whom the people placed their trust and faith, have now been
corrupted. Chahine is good in his difficult role but a certain something
seems to be absent from his performance. Perhaps he, too, is a victim
of hopelessness. 3 cats
“THE LAST MAN screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival”
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