"Are you Mr..." "Wahab Chouayr?" "Chouayri." " Son of..." "Thomas and Souha...?" "Yes." "Sir, your father has died." "What?" "Early last night we found the body of a man who died of natural causes." "According to his papers, it's your father." "It can't be." "Your father is dead." "He's in Brazil." "You'll have to identify the body." "It's not him!" "It may be his passport, but we spoke yesterday." "I heard samba." "So it can't be him." "The body matches this man's photograph." "Your father's passport shows he never went to Brazil." "He was staying at the Valois Hotel on St-Denis St." "The morgue opens at 7:" "Bring this form." "Our sincere condolences." "They insisted!" " What the fuck?" "You called, we had to come." "Look, I need to be alone." "We can't leave you alone." "We're here, you don't have to worry about anything!" "My poor darling, leave it to us." "We'll call the funeral parlor." "There's one..." "Where will your father be buried?" "The cemetery in the east end." "My mother's buried there." "Take your time." "Don't mind me, I'm in no rush." "I'll be downstairs." "WAHAB, AGE 20" "WAHAB, AGE 1" "Wahab, my little Wahab." "You're 1 today, and I'm not there." "Don't think I've abandoned you." "Soon I'll tell you the truth." "A big kiss, son." "On the rest of the tape is music that your mother loved." "Happy birthday, Wahab!" "Wahab, today you are two years old." "I think how unhappy this day is, since it'll remind you of your mother's death." "But I don't want to be sad." "Today's your second birthday." "I'm giving you what I treasure most, my happiest memory:" "A time when visions of your mother filled my gaze." "Life stretched out before us." "Hurry, Thomas!" "Hurry up." "What is it?" " You wouldn't believe me!" "Look at the camera." "The doctors said she couldn't have the baby." "She was pregnant with you, her belly like a moon." "Your aunts and uncles all told her," "You must have an abortion!" "I told her that too." "She wouldn't hear of it." "It's my womb, I replied." "It's my life." "No one could." "I'd dreamed of you since I was a girl." "I'd hoped for you for so long." "How could I live without you?" "The doctors said, The mother or the child." "People said, Give up the child." "I shouted, Spare the child, gazing at your father." "I said to him, Thomas, the child... the child..." "He will be you, me, your face, my face in his face..." "Keep the child, Thomas." "So I said, Keep the child." "Where is the truth?" "Your mother died, to everyone I was a murderer." "They invented the car crash to protect you." "I wanted to keep you." "They nearly killed me." "I didn't have the courage, your mother's courage." "I didn't fight." "I should have kept you, you and me, walking life's paths." "I wasn't able to." "I live knowing I've ruined my life." "I can't see you, can't tell you the truth." "I'm so afraid you won't understand me, so afraid of losing you again." "The truth!" "I want to know the truth." "Did she die in a crash?" "If you know, why do you ask?" "Why didn't you say?" "Say what, that your father's a murderer?" "You caused her death?" "Not me." "It was her decision." "She decided!" "She decided to have me, she forced my father." "She did." "So what, Wahab?" "It doesn't change a thing." "Yes, it changes things." " What?" "You shouldn't have kept us apart." "He ran away." "You chased him away." " Fine." "What do you want?" "I want my father to be buried with my mother." "Never!" "Never!" "That bastard will never be buried in the family crypt." "Your mother was my big sister, your aunt's big sister." "She raised me, educated me." "I owe her that!" "She'd love you calling her husband a bastard the day after he died." "Enough!" "Where he's buried is of no importance." "So unimportant you served a leftover birthday cake!" "Everyone benefited from her death." "Auntie, you got a son without having one." "Uncle, no one stole your sister." "If it weren't for your mother and aunt, I'd let him rot." "I'll bury him, I'll pay whatever it costs." "When I see him in his hole, I'll be the happiest man alive." "FOR WAHAB" "He's still not home, still hasn't called!" "If he's not at his dad's funeral, I'll kill him." "On my father's head, I will!" "Where's my nephew?" "Where is he?" "Where's...?" " Where's the coffin?" "But he did leave this for you." "Mr Chouayri made other plans." "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Lebanon!" "Chouayri." "Lebanese?" "You speak English?" "French?" "Yes, French." "Oh, French." " And what's this?" "My passport." "If you Lebanese, why no Lebanese passport?" "I don't have one." "But I'm Lebanese by birth." "By birth, huh?" "Wahab, today you're five years old." "You can walk, and talk." "You must be scared of the dark." "I think of all the stories I'd tell you to help you sleep, stories I heard..." "Sir!" "I'm supposed to be picked up." "Wahab Chouayri?" "Is it far?" "Ten minutes." "Kfar Rayat?" " That's in the mountains." "We'll leave tomorrow." "Where are we going?" "And the body?" "You can take it, but we're on the 3rd floor." "It was a 255:" "The biggest shell there is." "My cousin's family had fled here." "They all died." "It came in through here." "And exploded right there." "It's good for ventilation." "My name's Massi." "Is there no room for him in Canada?" "I can't bury him just anywhere." "But this is nowhere!" "Lebanon's the most nowhere place in the world!" "No, you don't..." " Lebanon for you is tabouleh, hummus, blue sky, sea..." "It's the village of my father's birth." "There's nothing left." "There's no birth village!" "You Lebanese holiday here." "Am I on holiday?" "You say, In Canada, it's cold, people eat junk food." "This country is beautiful." "Yet they leave." "I understand, I'd do anything to go." "I'm applying." "Do you need ambulance drivers?" "I dunno." "You know nothing about Lebanon or Canada, can't speak Arabic..." " I never learned." "So study." "I'm learning English." "Samantha Fox!" "Samantha Fox, yeah." "Before you go, I'll give you a letter to mail for my immigration papers." "I'll be glad to." "They'll ask you about your work experience." "During the war I transported the wounded, the dead, women, kids..." "That's my experience." "I don't know about the equivalency." "See, that word doesn't exist in Arabic." "Equivalency is a word from your world." "What is it?" "A power blackout." "Time for bed, we're getting up early." "Say something to me in Arabic!" " What?" " Say something in Arabic!" "I can't speak Arabic." "Speak Arabic, say anything!" "Samantha Fox!" "Your passport." "A Syrian roadblock." "Wahab," "I have no more words." "Today you are 14:" "I'm giving you my silence." "So as a present" "They always search corpses?" "Usually they burn them." "Are we in Lebanon?" " Yeah." "So why are there Syrians?" "Read the papers much?" "Kfar Rayat." "You've no respect for anything." "Not for death, for mourning..." "We told you, no music." "No music!" "Two to a coffin?" "Yeah." "Why?" " There's no room." "And over there?" "It's mined, you can't go there." "But why?" "You'll understand." "Ambulance..." "Can I ask them about my father?" "Up to you, he's your father." "May I bury my father?" "Where is he?" " In the car, over there." "Thomas Chouayri." "I want to bury him here." "You're from?" "Canada." "You should have called before coming." "Well, can I?" " No foreigners!" "Foreigners, no!" "No!" "He was born here, you knew him!" "He says your father's a coward." "He ran away with his money." "Let him be buried in Canada, or in Syria." "They have room there." "Don't bury him here." "They'll dig him up and burn him." "There's no room." "And over there?" "It's mined all over." "The boy they buried was killed by a mine." "Over there." "It took two days to recover his body." "Forget it." "There may be room in the next village." "What's your name?" " Wahab." "I'm Layal." "I'm not going home yet." "I can take you there." "Now?" " It's best for your father." "Here, turn here." "Good idea, I have to piss." "What is it?" " Pipi." "Everything ok?" "We shouldn't just show up with the coffin." "We'll leave him here." "My job was to drive you." "Now you want me to watch over your father." "You're paid by the day." "Canadians think only of money." "I'm Lebanese, not Canadian." "Real Lebanese piss further!" "I'll pay you." " I don't want your money." "What do you want?" "I want your Canadian passport." "Ok." "They're emptying the cemetery." "Who's they?" " The Syrians." "Yesterday, they took my husband's body." "He was buried there." "You're French?" "Yes." "No, Québecois, but I'm also Lebanese." "My parents too." "It's complicated." "He wasn't born here, his parents fled." "His father's dead." "He was from Kfar Rayat." "You can't bury him here." "What'll we do?" "Go see Jamil." "The first house coming into town." "He has land." "He'll sell a plot if you pay." "What did he say?" "What did he say?" "A Syrian patrol saw the casket." "They took it, along with my ambulance." "No!" "You can't be trusted!" "I did my best, I saved your bag." " Fuck it!" "Calm down." " I don't want to!" "I have no desire at all to calm down." "No desire, and no reason to!" " Calm down." "Let's think it over." "What's to think over?" "The Syrians took my father!" "So what?" "Christ, you know!" "Think about it!" "The Syrians!" "Where'd they go?" "They left." "We'll find them." "What?" "Find what?" "There's nothing to find, shit!" "I wanted to bury him in his homeland." "It's done." "That's it." "It's over!" "We'll find out where they took him." "And then what?" "We'll ask for him back." " They've buried him!" "They'll dig him up and give him back." "Yeah, sure." "Are you crazy?" "Listen to me, Wahab." "I went crazy once, when men entered my village, took my father and mother, lined them up and shot them." "I went crazy once, when I saw those men piss on my parents' bodies, pour gas on them, and light it." "Yes, I admit I went slightly crazy." "I'm not asking permission." "I'm telling you what I'm going to do." "I'll find your father and bury him." "If you want you can come." "If not, Beirut's that way." "Look!" "They're heading for Bouriyah." "Through the forest." "I'm ok." "What?" "What?" "This land is mined." "What?" "It's mined?" "Where's it mined?" "Beneath our feet." "Beneath our feet?" "Beneath our feet are mines?" "Let's go back!" "No, it's mined behind us too." "What?" "It's mined behind us?" "Why'd you bring us here if you knew?" "Why'd you bring us here, you fuck?" "Calm down!" "There are mines behind us, in front, everywhere." "So calm down." "Calm down." "What now?" "Follow in my footsteps." "Stop it." "Stop it." "Stand up." "Stand up!" "Stand up!" " Stop it." "Wahab, the mines." "It's mined!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "We can't carry on our shoulders all the corpses in the country!" "Samantha Fox" "PO Box" "30120, London, England." "What do we do?" "Where are we going?" " To find the body." "What's that?" "I don't know." "Come on." "KHALIL GIBRAN BOYS' SCHOOL" "The corpses they dug up yesterday." "They're robbing the dead!" "Look!" "Wahab!" "Thanks." "Man or woman?" "Man." "Shit!" "I can't speak Arabic!" "May I ask who it is?" " My father." "And you lost him?" "What do you want him for?" "To bury him." " Let us." "I'll do it myself." " Where are you from?" "Next person who asks me, I'll slap him!" "I just want to bury him!" "The car keys." "Help me." "We've screwed around enough." "Today we brought a woman a body." "We said it was her son." "You know what?" "She believed us." "She can finally stop waiting." "He doesn't care." "Doesn't speak French." "I do, my mother was French." "She's dead." "Let's go." "Let's play table-soccer." "You win, it stays here." "Deal?" "I win, they take the body." "If they try anything, I'll kill'em." "You never shot anyone." "I never lost at table-soccer." "Game point." "Enough!" "That's enough!" "Wait outside." "I said wait outside!" "Why'd they smash your violin?" " I don't know." "Same for everything." "Same for Massi's death." "Same for your father's body." "Our parents told us nothing." "They tell us nothing." "I ask them why there was this war." "They answer, Forget it." "Don't ask." "What's the point?" "There was no war." "I ask, But who was shooting at who?" "They say, No one was shooting." "It's over." "You dreamt it, Layal." "You dreamt it." "I don't know." "I spoke to him." " About what?" "His father." "Ami killed his own father in the war." "He mistook him for the enemy." "In the war everyone mistook everyone." "Everyone resembled everyone." "He mistook him." "When my father died" "I thought he was in Brazil." "I was screwing a girl, I don't even remember her name." "Let's go, before I change my mind too." "Wait a second." "Wait!" "Come see!" "Take better care of him now." "A corpse is precious." "Very precious." "The smell is not bad." "On the contrary, I like it." "It tells us that the corpse is still there, not lost, not stolen, not burned." "I was also a son." "My name is Sabbi, and my father is dead." "Dead's a lame word, because my dad was caught alive." "Then they killed my mom." "You see, if you bury your dead, I may be freed of mine." "Wahab," "I didn't take care of you." "For your twentieth birthday," "I'm asking your forgiveness." "But it may be too late." "There's no reason why we should be close, or even find each other." "I'm speaking from a dingy hotel room." "I work as a house painter in Alexandria." "We know nothing of each other." "How are we to go on living?" "A roadblock." "My passport!" "You keep quiet." "We'll explain." " Right." "He lost his passport." "Listen... he's burying his father." "They'll go to Syria!" "Everyday, at 4 in the afternoon, at the crossroads." "You know, Mr Chouayri, in Syria you don't just wander about with your dad's corpse." "I didn't ask to come here." "But you're here now." "Since we're civilized, we'll bury your father's body." "At home I couldn't bury him beside my mother, only in the same cemetery, and I said no." "I don't know why I'd say yes now." "I can't speak Arabic!" "You ok?" "Could be worse, but I don't see how." "What's your name?" " Wahab Chouayri." "Lebanese?" " You could say." "Lebanese from Villeray near the 40:" "You turn left off St-Hubert at the Harvey's." "Chouayri..." "From Beit Ed Dine, Kfar Rayat or Sarin?" "Kfar Rayat." "Are you the son of Michel?" "No, Thomas." "Thomas..." "Byblos..." "Kfar Rayat..." "Thomas and Souhayla Chouayri from Kfar Rayat." "Have we met?" "No, I just know your name, your father's, grandfather's..." "I could even go back further..." "It's another way of colonizing." "They empty cemeteries, rob the dead, rings, gold teeth, watches..." "They bury the dead here, in Syria." "So to visit, our people come to Syria." "They get used to it, and the border disappears." "They mix up the dead, Syrians with Lebanese with Kurds." "Worst of all, it's the Lebanese who do the dirty work." "Why are you here?" "I catalogue the pillaged graves, try to locate them." "Sometimes to bring them back, but that's hard." "No questions, where you go?" "The town before Rayat." "Kfar Matrah." "We have to see someone." "Jamil." "Jamil Oumbarak." "Do you have his phone number?" "Wait." "It's them." "You're late." "The roads are bad." "This is Josiphine." "Jamil's waiting." "Come with us." "Ah, young people!" "The young generation!" "It's the young people!" "The young people!" "The world belongs to youth!" "Hello, son." "Hello, daughter." "Youth!" "Hello, miss." "Welcome!" "Long live youth!" "Are you the Canadian?" "Canada, now there's a country!" "Here, the young are punks, thieves, lazybones, good-for-nothings!" "Kids here use the war as an excuse to give up." "In Canada young people work." "My friend," "I'm proud to welcome a Canadian." "What do you do, so we can do the same?" "My poor lad, it's a bit late to do what I did." "The war is over." "Can we see the cemetery?" "Absolutely." "Let's go." "Help me up." "Thanks, this way." "Here we are, this is it." "It's modest, but it'll improve." "I only started selling my land 3 weeks ago." "I've three little bodies, but soon I'll have a nice big cemetery." "I've always liked big things." "You must indulge your passions." "Most people buy tiny video cameras, but I bought a real professional camera to film burials." "I love burials." "A burial's great." "A burial makes a good memory." "Your dad..." "We'll prepare a beautiful tomb for him, like this." "We'll inscribe the marble:" "To the memory of Thomas Chouayri, died in exile, buried by wish of his son from Canada." "There." "Now I'd like you to speak to my camera." "Tell it how you feel, what's going through your head." "Wait, I'll film you." "I'll frame it." "Alright, we're rolling." "You can talk now." "Say something." "Say what you're thinking and feeling." "Wahab." "Recently I realized I had no real friends." "I made one here." "His name is Massi." "Yesterday he was killed by a mine." "A mine you probably sold, to buy a fancy camera" "No way I'll bury my father here." "If you want to know, I think you're a pig." "That's my private opinion, not public." "I'd rather burn him than bury him on your patio." "Me, a pig?" "You cow!" "Me, a pig?" "You bastard!" "Beat it." "Fuck you and your father!" "Fuck your friends and your cinema!" "Go screw yourself!" "Bugger your God!" "Screw your mother!" "Me, a pig?" "There!" "Ami!" "Ami!" "Wahab, today it's your 25th birthday." "I'm in Montréal." "I called you and pulled the Brazil trick again." "But today it's over." "I'll go to your door, ring the bell, and talk to you." "I'll tell you everything." "I'm falling." "It's still snowing." "It's cold." "I'm cold." "I'm coming." "Not in the earth." "In the sea." "I wish I'd known you better." "Wahab, my soul is reassured." "I am going to enter the great silence of the depths." "Here's a tape I never recorded for you." "I give it to you, for you've given me the light of my country." "It is engraved in our memory, a trace of the mystery that you were for me, and that I was for you."