Simran Hans 

Tramontane review – on the right path

A blind musician tries to trace his ancestry in this Lebanese road trip
  
  

‘Quite captivating’: Barakat Jabbour in Tramontane.
‘Quite captivating’: Barakat Jabbour in Tramontane. Photograph: Pamela Pianezza

This low-key first feature from Lebanese director Vatche Boulghourjian centres on a blind musician named Rabih (Barakat Jabbour, quite captivating), who goes on a Who Do You Think You Are?-style road trip after discovering that the truth of his ancestry has been kept from him by his mother, Samar (Julia Kassar). Just as Rabih searches for his buried heritage, Boulghourjian also seeks to uncover the history of his country’s deep national trauma in the wake of the civil war. Overall, the narrative lacks focus, though a musical number that stretches out over nine minutes provides a cathartic, if slightly clunky, conclusion.

Watch the trailer for Tramontane.
 

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