Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Family leaves city for hard rural life; language, drugs.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Costa Brava, Lebanon
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON, Walid (Saleh Bakri) used to be a journalist but he's a farmer now. His wife Soraya (Nadine Labaki) used to be a pop singer with a large following and now feeds chickens and makes olive oil. After years of protesting the pollution and corruption plaguing Beirut, they pulled up roots and built a home in the country. It's a ramshackle house. The kitchen is outdoors, but it's quiet and they seem happy their 17-year-old daughter Tala (Nadia Charbel) and their precocious youngest, Rim (Ceana Restom), are growing up without cell phones, a degraded culture, and dirty air. It's clear no one is completely at peace but they slog on until a landfill moves in right next door, disturbing the quiet, felling the trees, and digging a huge pit for garbage. The landfill reps promise it will all be state of the art, but soon they are burning trash and filling the sky with the pollution the family left the city to escape. The disruption unearths all the disappointments between the husband and wife and unsettles the kids. Walid starts recording the landfill's illegal practices and though he can't evict them himself, soon protesters scare the developers away, leaving the family questioning everything.
Is It Any Good?
The heart of Costa Brava, Lebanon is in the right place. Characters have had enough of the pollution and dehumanized lives they lived in an urban center and opted to try something different out in the countryside. When the ills of badly managed urban living follow them to their door, the anxiety they tried to leave behind invades their lives, all beautifully conveyed in subtle performances by a talented cast. Not a lot happens, and this dissatisfaction may become a bit repetitive throughout the movie, but each well-drawn character offers a different view on the question of how people want to live their lives. This can be ponderous at times, but mostly it's thoughtful and worthwhile.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what keeps families together. How do you think ideology works to keep this family together? How does it tear them apart?
A man and woman met a protest and bonded over shared views, then created a family and faced the real consequences of living up to one's principles. Do you think the parents here gave up on their ideals or just needed to change things? Why?
How do you think parents' ideals affect their children? How did the kids here respond to their parents' beliefs?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : November 3, 2022
- Director : Mounia Akl
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Activism ( Civic engagement , Climate change ) , Family Stories ( Dads , Moms , Siblings ) , STEM ( Nature )
- Run time : 106 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 6, 2025
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