Mira Shaib’s Arzé pulls its framework from the shadow of Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948), but the parallels go beyond plot alone. Shaib re-contextualizes the journey of a stolen scooter, placing it firmly within the fractured landscape of modern-day Beirut.

In this sense, the film is as much a portrait of Lebanon’s internal divisions as it is a personal story of a mother’s desperation. The streets of Beirut, alive with movement and tension, act as more than just a backdrop—they embody the wounds of a nation split by sectarianism and economic instability.

Shaib’s debut feels grounded in a specific historical and cultural moment yet also speaks to a broader, almost universal reality: that survival—personal and familial—requires bending the rules, even breaking them. Arzé, a single mother striving to keep her family afloat, is pushed to extremes that are both heartbreaking and darkly comedic.