An unknown man survives a car accident in the middle of the Bekaa Valley with just a few scratches and the loss of his memory. Soon after, he meets a group of people who take him to a closely guarded farm. It’s a mysterious place where the inhabitants spend time on more than just farming, a place from which the unnamed protagonist may never be able to leave. This complex, disturbing mystery, conveying a message on the state of civilization, is so far the most ambitious picture by the renowned Lebanese director – a film intellectual who vividly succeeds in transmitting psychological categories into cinematic language. In the case of The Valley this concerns the intense feeling of menace hanging over a place of possible annihilation such as the site of the auto accident, and the farm as an epicenter of vegetation, but it also involves the man’s confinement and, last but not least, the threat oppressing the entire region, which includes the director’s homeland. “Beirut has been erased,” announces a voice over the radio as the movie draws to a close. An experience of distress and uncertainty, of paralyzing fear that suddenly starts to become tangible.