Zozo (2005) Reviews

• Beautifully convincing

  HenrikAjax2005-09-20

  Third movie by young Lebanese/Swedish director Josef Fares. While his first two movies "Jalla, Jalla!" and "Kopps" are pure comedies, "Zozo" uses humor very subtle to make a tough destiny bearable. This well-acted story is inspired by Fares' own childhood, which is something you clearly feel while watching young charismatic Imad Creidi portraying the sensible but strong little boy Zozo, who manages to leave Beirut and the war and makes his way by himself to Sweden, only to bump into other kind of problems – ones of a more personal nature than the more concrete and directly life threatening ones of his native town. Throughout the movie Josef Fares skilfully lets us go very near young Zozo with all the emotional twists and turns of , for someone of his age, life changing experiences. With this, the most serious film so far by Fares, he reveals a whole different pallet of qualities than in his earlier works; a far more sensitive side. Hats off gentlemen! /Henrik Ajax

• One of the strongest movies I've seen.

  majla_mig_ej2005-09-12

  The story of a boy who's living in Beirut during the war, He and his family are waiting for their papers in order to leave Lebanon and seek refuge in Sweden.... The horrors of war and the way it affects civilians is shown in this movie and it won't leave you untouched. But even in the most serious situations there is room for jokes and you will alternate between crying and laughing. This is one of the strongest movies I've seen! I've never admired any director or even known that they were alive until yesterday when I saw Zozo. With three great movies (this one is the best) Joseph Fares has shown that he truly masters the art of telling a story. I sincerely hope this movie is translated into English and other languages and if it doesn't get nominated for best foreign movie something is not right. Don't miss this movie!

• When your life shifts from fairly good to hell. When you get caught up in war.

  sibbalingur892005-12-11

  The young Arabian boy, Zozo lives a fairly normal life with his family in Beirut. He's got good friends, and goes to an Arabic school. His grandparents live in Sweden, and have been motivating him and his family to come too. Away from the war. To a place what they saw as a paradise. A place where there was not war. As he described it to his friends, A country with beautiful girls and pretty houses. From that ideal life, the movie leads you through the tragedy that Zozo experiences. Zozo is an amazingly beautiful film (but yet no where near dramatic), that shows the world from an dreaming, mature eleven year old boy's point of view. The poetic and surrealistic filming captures the emotions in an extraordinary way, and surreal chapters of his dreams bring you closer to his mind and imagination. I've never before cried over a movie. But the thought of this movie actually only being half fictional, since there is, and always will be war, made me feel utterly selfish, and at these circumstances you must either be a rock hard sailor or an emotionally dead soldier to at least not be a little touched by this emotional and poetic filming, and feel sympathy for the people who have to go through these circumstances. When they are forced into a war they never asked for. The victims of political arguments.

• Excellent

  wjmatar2006-04-02

  The movie is well done, I like it very much.... It is indeed very cruel hard and tough for the boy... but while you see the movie you smile at the same time. I never know there is such good Lebanese director. Mabrouk. Maybe one thing.. I like the end of the movie... it shows the innocence of children... and from nothing they are trying to be happy in life... But I think the end is also sad.. there is a feeling of sadness with this peaceful end of the last picture of the movie.. so I think it is little exaggerating as drama. But again all the movie is excellent! I arrived 5 minutes late to the theater, so I hope to see it again later.

• A young boy escapes the turmoil and tragedy of the 1980s civil war in Lebanon by emigrating to Sweden to join his grandparents.

  jgtcleveland2006-03-18

  All four of my grandparents hail from Lebanon so this warm and engaging film really hit home with me. I was never able to take my grandparents back to Lebanon because the civil war was going on. This film makes it clear how horrible and wrenching that civil war was. Zozo is an 11 year old boy who lives with his parents and two siblings in an apartment in Beirut. Just as his family is able to flee Beirut tragedy strikes. Zozo finds solace in a talking chicken (trust me-- it works) and a young girlfriend. He finds peace and nurturing in Sweden with his beloved grandparents but is still in many ways an outcast. The film tells a beautiful, heartwarming story.