Lebanese standup comedian Nemr Abou Nassar will release his second film on Dec. 10, highlighting Lebanon's resilience despite all odds.
"Victorious Secret" – an "immersive film experience" – showcases Abou Nassar's 2012 live comedy show while also adding an intro and an outro storyline, bookending the performance. This specific comedy show is particularly significant because of the massive crowd it drew during a time of instability in Lebanon.
"What was significant about it was the time that it happened, the roads were being closed, tires were being burned in the streets. It was a very politically unstable time in the country," Abou Nassar told StepFeed. "Nobody was going out. Yet for one night, 3,000 people came out to have a good time and to laugh."
This resilience, despite ongoing unrest and difficulties, is the core message behind Abou Nassar's latest film and his comedy work more broadly.
"At that time, the Arab Spring had happened, things were going crazy. Yet Lebanon had this ability to keep it together. Even though when we were doing the show, things were going crazy but there was no war breaking out, things remained stable," Abou Nassar said.
"There's a secret to that ability to always win the victory of being Lebanese, of the way we deal with things here in Lebanon. Even now, take a look around. Everything is falling apart everywhere and Lebanon, literally despite all odds, we're not even exaggerating, held it together."
Abou Nassar sees comedy and humor as intrinsically linked to the unbreakable Lebanese spirit and endeavors to highlight the comedic aspects of Lebanese society while humorously examining Lebanese and Arab identity. Particularly, he endeavors to focus on national pride and unity by leading his audience to laugh in the face of constant adversity.
"Usually the samurai, before they would be killed, they would laugh. So when they surrendered and would get beheaded, they would be laughing in the face of their enemies," he said.
"Take ISIS as an example. They are throwing everything they have [at Lebanon]. You're talking about desperate measures and we didn't even flinch … Doing comedy during all of this, it's reinforcing that idea of laughing in the face of your enemy."
Of course, some may criticize Abou Nassar for trivializing or making light of serious issues during ongoing unrest. He just takes such criticism in stride.
"Just because I'm delivering it in a way that makes people laugh doesn't mean it's trivializing it. Because if I talk about something and get two people to laugh at it, and those two people have differing backgrounds, differing religions, differing political beliefs … If I throw in a joke and they both laugh, then they've agreed on that point."
In the end, Abou Nassar's message isn't particularly controversial. On the contrary, he considers himself a cheerleader for a united Lebanon.
"I'm anything short of pom-poms, that's it. I am a cheerleader for Lebanon; I genuinely believe that the secret to really mastering how to live lies here. The ability to stay positive and deal with all of these things, is something that I can say is uniquely Lebanese and I'm a big proponent of that because I think people can learn from that and live better."
In fact Abou Nassar soon plans to take this message to an even bigger audience. His next comedy show is set to tour across the United States before heading back to the Middle East. During the forthcoming tour entitled "Nemr," Abou Nassar will visit more than 20 American cities and then tour the Middle East, concluding his show in Lebanon. The finale in Lebanon will also be filmed and then mixed with footage showcasing Lebanon. If everything goes as planned, it will air on American television, taking the message of Lebanese resilience to an American audience.
"It will be the first time the Americans on a massive scale will be watching a very fun event happening in the Middle East, where you have a dude telling jokes in English and lots of people laughing," he said.
"If you didn't know, you might think its just a special somewhere in Oklahoma or Los Angeles. I want people step back and think, 'Wait a second, were we just laughing at a show in Lebanon with Lebanese people? We're that similar?'"
Highlighting his mission of inspiring others through the message of Lebanese resilience, Abou Nassar said, "I want them to understand who we are as a people and also to understand who they are as a people, what they're capable of, [for them to] always know that no matter how hard it is, if [Lebanese] people can deal with it, than we can deal with it too."
"We [the Lebanese] are a testament to the unbreakability and the imperviousness of the human spirit and I want the world to really see that."
You can watch "Victorious Secret" at VOX Cinema at CityCentre in Hazmieh starting on Dec. 10. Following its run in the cinema, the film will be released on Abou Nassar's website for free streaming.