The Lebanese capital, April 1975. Open conflict between Muslims and Christians breaks out: the Civil War has started and Beirut becomes a war zone. But affable, 15-year-old scamp Tarek and his friends Omar and May don’t succumb to skepticism. The war – a major episode in their young lives whose pernicious effects they only realize when they’re older – grants them limitless, much-desired freedom. Suddenly the disintegrating system allows them to experience with far greater intensity life’s rituals of initiation: love, friendship, and sex. Indeed, as the filmmaker claims, “Despite the sheer horror of it, war informs and educates: the individual, child or adult, is forced to consider his own existence and the respect of the most fundamental human values.” Aided by characters that can’t help but be reminiscent of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Doueiri’s humorous and emotionally complex autobiographical look at these difficult years met with exceptional box-office success.