A many-storied past is explored in this uniquely presented narrative that is Lana Daher’s 2025 documentary Do You Love Me. Using thousands of hours of archival footage and photographs, Daher reconstructs over seven decades of Lebanese history and culture (focusing particularly on its capital city, Beirut) in an experimental way, forgoing the typical interview/voice-over style.
This beautiful film doesn’t fit into any traditional documentary category. Every medium of film is represented, from clips of feature films to documentaries to TV shows, news spots, home movies, and photos. There was also no discrimination of the quality of the selected film clips, as some of them would slow down and stall, affirming their value despite those who’d dismiss it as unusable footage.
One sequence was after an airstrike in which grey picture stills with light streaks and indiscernible shapes flitted past the screen, while audio is overlaid of men walking through and discussing the aftermath. The pictures may be from that day, or not; nothing is certain. All of this serves to remind viewers that films are mere collections of slivers of captured moments. In the case of Do You Love Me, images are arranged like pieces from different puzzles that are forced to click together, awkward and nonsequential. One example includes different clips of women showering that transitions into primping at the mirror and then to women and people dancing.
In other moments, themed clip collections emerge. The film begins by launching into a lengthy montage of opening credits and titles to dozens of films about and from Lebanon presented in various languages from Arabic to French to English and beyond, signaling an enormous body of work and records of the country. Their importance is cemented by the knowledge that countless records and mementos would have been lost over the years, increasing the value of these images as evidence of moments in time.
The rest of the film includes dozens of themed sets of clips portraying moments ranging from dramatic (guns, car bombs, building rubble) to mundane (flower shop exteriors, weddings, sleeping babies, cloudy skies). The viewer is left to interpret the images without the pairing of verbal commentary. When there is commentary, it’s not necessarily tied into the film you’re seeing, as you can be looking at and listening to two or more different films.
A consequence of this film’s delivery style is that you’re on edge as your eyes roam all around the screen for fear of missing something, yet not knowing what might appear on the screen next. It defies logic because you’re in no danger of losing a narrative thread, yet it’s impossible to look away, as everything is important.
This film is both compelling for its content and refreshing because it refuses to follow any conventions for traditional narrative and shot structuring. Highly recommended.
Which library customers would benefit from screening this Lebanese documentary film?
Do You Love Me would fit in public library shelves alongside other documentary titles pertaining to political science, history, and film studies. Patrons would enjoy checking out this title to watch at home or via a library screening with others, though an age attendance minimum may be deemed appropriate due to potentially upsetting clips, including a man being shot, another of a horse being shot, and raw footage of airstrikes.
What academic subjects or media education courses would benefit from this Lebanese documentary film?
This educational documentary would be a valuable addition to any academic library collection or classroom teaching with film, albeit for students university age and older. Courses in history, political science, and even film studies or media literacy courses would find much to discuss in this film, from its artful storytelling style to any number of historical events the film touched on.
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