This war drama is set during the Israeli 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut.  The protagonist is 11-year-old Wissam (bright eyed Mohamad Dalli) who  tells a classmate about his crush on a girl, while his teachers — on different sides of the political divide — try to mask their fears, in this poignant debut feature from Oualid Mouaness.  

The film will attract audiences for its main actress Nadine Labaki (she directed CAPERNAUM) who plays a schoolteacher Yesmine.  Mouaness occasionally captures the urgency of the evacuation of the school children, some fearing that their parents will not pick them up while others are just glad school might be closed for the next few days.  

Mouaness  provides little insight on the events nor on the history of the war.  Nothing transpired on screen is unexpected in a situation like this resulting in a  mediocre and often boring film.