music as an act of resistance against Islamism in Syria

First film by Jimmy Keyrouz, The Last Piano, in theaters Wednesday April 13, was selected for the 2017 Oscars among the best foreign films, but has not been distributed until today. Directed in response to the banning of music by the Islamists in Syria in 2014, the subject comes from the heart, and the mastery of its staging is astonishing for a budding filmmaker.

Pianist, Karim is about to be auditioned in Vienna when the Islamists ban music in the provinces they hold in Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood destroys his piano, and the musician decides to find the parts to repair it on a journey through his country at war.

Filmed in 2016, shortly after the events of 2014, adapted from a true story, The Last Piano is at the crossroads of fiction and reality. His hero’s fight becomes a metaphor for a country’s resistance against invading religious ideologues. Jimmy Keyrouz’s camera embraces Karim’s journey in a constant forward movement, even if the film would have gained in rhythm if it were a little shorter.

Gabriel Yared’s music breathes new life into a film whose subject remains war. Machine gunfire breaks out on every street corner, where Karim seeks refuge and the pieces of the “last piano”. Jimmy Keyrouz films in the middle of the ruins and feeds his story of neighborhood life, visits an Islamist school where you learn more to handle weapons and make bombs than to write and count.

Constructed with a before, a during and an after, The Last Piano belongs to the initiatory narrative. A film of resistance, it challenges the war still in progress in the Middle East and which is spreading to Africa, not to mention Ukraine on other precepts. She too can only get bogged down in a street war, the worst and the longest. In these torments, The Last Piano distills notes of hope, with an art of storytelling that bodes well for a filmmaker to follow.

Gender : Drama / War
Director : Jimmy Keyrouz
Actors : Tarek Yaacoub, Rola Baksmati, Mounir Maasri
Country : Lebanon
Duration : 1h50
Exit : April 13, 2022
Distributer : Alba Movies

Synopsis : Karim, a talented pianist, has the unique opportunity to audition in Vienna. The war in Syria and the restrictions imposed upset his plans and survival becomes an everyday issue. His piano is then his only chance to escape from this hell. When the latter is destroyed by the Islamic State, Karim has only one thing in mind, to find the parts to repair his instrument. A long journey begins to regain his freedom.