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The One Man Village (Semaan Bil Day'ia) Promo Trailer

in The One Man Village (Semaan Bil Day'ia) | Posted on June 24, 2009 Runtime: 1:48

Ever since he was a kid, Semaan El Habre has wanted to raise cows. Sick of the pollution and crowds of the city, he moved to the abandoned village of Aïn el-Halazoun, where he lives a quiet, peaceful life. At one time, 45 families lived in this picturesque village in a valley near Beirut. But the villagers were displaced during a 15-year civil war. Some of them have returned, if only in the spring and fall, to maintain the land. "We can't neglect the land, of course," one of them says. "We can neglect ourselves but not the land. Our children know nothing about land and planting. When our generation passes away no one will visit anymore." Beautifully filmed, quirky and affectionate, The One Man Village is a poetic ode to one man's attempt to preserve a pastoral way of life.