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= Martyr (2017 film) = Martyr is a 2017 Lebanese film that tackles various genres such as drama,fantasy and family written and directed by Mazen Khaled. On a sunny day in Beirut, Hassane (Hamza Mekdad) and his friends decide to go out to the seaside and enjoy the water. After a fatal cliff diving that will take Hassane's life his friends, family and community must come together to prepare Hassane's body for the funeral. Despite its sadden nature Martyr is a film that touches such subject as love, life, celebration, collaboration, friendship, class, gender, race and queer identity. Martyr is able to intersect Islam, masculinity and queer cinema all in a 84 minutes run time.

= Death by Drowning = In a 2018 article written by Carlos Aguilar for Filmmaker magazine, he asked director Mazen Khaled about the whole concept concerning martyrdom and how it intertwines with the movie. Khaled answered the following “The word “martyr” is in the news a lot these days, and it’s become equated with war and violence, but if you look at the word in its original meaning, at least in the Islamic religion — though it exists in all religions — it has a broader definition. It doesn’t have to mean someone who goes and dies in war; the meaning actually encompasses someone who drowns, someone who dies from certain types of cancer, and even someone who dies on his or her way to work. All of them are considered martyrs. Martyrdom is changing, and that’s something that got me interested in it.”. We can also understand martyr as an unjustly death as one deserves a better way of leaving this earth than just a sudden death. For instance, one could also see Jesus Christ as a martyr since his death was unjust.

A portion of the film deals with death by drowning and how in Islam this particular way of dying is seeing and most importantly understood. To understand more the concept of martyrdom Mehedi Islam writes what death are considered a martyr, The Final Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “The martyrs are seven, other than the one who is killed in the Way of Allaah, Ta’aalaa: one who dies of plague, one who drowns, one who dies of pleurisy, one who dies of stomachache, one who dies due to burning one who dies under a demolition (by accident) a woman who dies with a baby in her womb.” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: “Getting killed in the Path of Allaah Ta’aalaa is martyrdom, (death in) confinement during childbirth is martyrdom, (death by) getting burned (by accident) is martyrdom, (death by) drowning (by accident) is martyrdom, (death due to) tuberculosis is martyrdom, (death due to) stomachache is martyrdom.”

= Symbolism = Water is used as a poetic form in this film as Khaled is able to give life to this earthly element. Water is used as a site of pleasure since a good portion of the film is shot on the seaside of Beirut with Hassane and his friends yet it is also a sight of tragedy because it is water that will take Hasane's life. One could say there is an irony to this because normally water is associated with life and not death. Hassane enjoys being in the water considering in the beginning of the film he takes a long shower, this is interrupted when his father tells him to get out of the shower since they can not afford to have water wasted. Thus showing how water is previous and at the same time a luxury item that can not go to waste. Hassane jumps off the rocks after discussing with his friends about his future, career, identity and love. Once he jumps his death is occurred not to a brain injury that he sustained from hitting the rocks but rather it is drowning by this luxury item of water that ultimately takes his life.

= Compare and Contrast = Article 534 of Lebanese law states the prohibition of sexual activities in regards to “contradicting the laws of nature,” can face prosecution and be sent to jail for up to a year. Though for some heterosexual individuals they use this law to go after LGTBQ+ folks. Despite numerous courts agreeing that this law should not be used to prosecute LGBTQ+ individuals there are some cases in which the law is used to harass and terrorize LGTBQ+ people. It goes without saying despite facing imprisonment, violence and harassment Lebanon is one of the most tolerated countries in the Arab-speaking world when it comes to LGTBQ+ folks. Due to some filming restrictions surrounding queer cinema in Lebanon, these films must act in discrete. In other words, the viewer must read in between the lines in order to understand the queer undertones in a queer Lebanese film. Case in point we see this in Caramel (2007) that was written and directed by Nadine Labaki. The film centres around a hair salon in Beirut, the ups and downs of the hair stylist and their clienteles. This film touches on various topics such as gender roles, age, class, social and religious background. Though there is a scene in the film in which a customer keeps visiting on a regular basis the same hair stylist. Through their body language and sensual eye contact, it is clear that there is a lesbian relationship that is building between the hair stylist and the client. Just like in Martyr it is never stated that Hassane or his friends are gay but through the endless touching and sensual undertones of the movie it is clear that both films have a few queer nuances. Harry M Benshoff and Sean Griffin authors from the 2006, Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America explains a film can have queer undertones without seeing a same-sex couple interacting in public display of affection or sexual activities as “connotative homosexuality, [implying] that a character might be queer, through subtle mannerisms, costuming, or speech patterns.” Thereby, both Caramel and Martyr would fit in with this argument.

= Reviews = There has been a lot of positive reviews for Khaled's film. These reviews praises his artistic touches towards the film, how he is able to tackle queer cinema and Islam, to the stylistic approaches. Wesley Morris for the New York Times writes "“Martyr” is one of those vague social tragedies that you wind up halfway believing, in part because the director’s convinced you, and also because the people starring in it seem existentially worn out — by life, sure, and maybe by all that vagueness.They’re playing bored young men withering in what should be the prime of their lives, and even though they don’t have a lot to act, they capture the numbness, grief and rage that come out of strife. They do what they can, with feeling. And the movie deepens into something haunted.". Robert Abele for the Los Angelas Times writes "Boldly homoerotic in its water-and-body-conscious imagery, “Martyr” is more of a formal, physical performance about grief and loss than a deep-dive into the inner lives of its handful of stricken characters. It leaves one with the sense that Khaled wishes to reclaim a headline-tainted religious status from the acts of violent men and bestow that mournful grace to people in an everyday struggle with sensitivity and hopelessness."

= Awards and Nominations = At the Venice Film Festival in 2017 Khaled was nominated for the Queer Lion award.Martyr has won two awards in 2018 at the Alexandria International Film Festival that being winner for best artistic achievement for Khaled and winner for best supporting actress for Carol Abboud, who plays Hassane's mother in the film. In 2018 Queer Lisboa - Festival Internacional de Cinema Queer was nominated for the queer art award. At the 2019 Lebanese Movie Awards Khaled was nominated for best writing in a Lebanese motion picture and Avakian was nominated for best editing in a Lebanese motion picture.

= References =