The Desperate Calculus of Survival: Rami Kodeih’s ‘Furies’ Captures the Raw Nerve of Beirut’s Collapse

In the spring of 2022, the city of Beirut was a powder keg waiting for a spark. Three years into a catastrophic economic implosion that saw the Lebanese Lira lose nearly all of its value and the banking sector lock citizens out of their own life savings, the atmosphere was one of stifling, suffocating desperation. It is against this backdrop of systemic failure and national decay that director Rami Kodeih sets his explosive third feature, Furies. A high-octane heist thriller with the soul of a Greek tragedy, the film serves as a visceral document of a country pushed to its absolute limits.

The Core Premise: A Heist Born of Broken Systems

The narrative centers on two sisters, Maro (Rym Mroue) and Dalia (Maria Nakouzi). They are young, broke, and entirely out of options. As one of them observes in the film’s haunting opening act, they are two women navigating a "fucked-up country" that has stripped them of their agency, their futures, and their dignity.

Dalia, a sex worker grappling with a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Maro, a hairdresser struggling to provide for a young son while tethered to an absent, unreliable partner, find themselves backed into a corner. When the banks—the very institutions meant to safeguard their survival—become the primary antagonists, hoarding the citizens’ assets behind locked doors, the sisters decide that the only way to reclaim their lives is to breach the fortress. Their plan is harebrained, implausible, and fueled by the dangerous chemical cocktail of grief and rage.

A Kinetic Cinematic Landscape

Director Rami Kodeih, working from a screenplay co-written with Nora Mariana, approaches the material with the intensity of a pressure cooker. Furies possesses the sprawling, grit-stained international energy reminiscent of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Amores Perros or the kinetic, hyper-realist pulse of Fernando Meirelles’ City of God.

Working with cinematographer Tony Kopec, Kodeih captures Beirut not just as a location, but as a living, breathing entity. The audience is immersed in the hedonistic chaos of the city’s nightlife, juxtaposed against the cold, clinical indifference of bank managers who laugh in the faces of depositors begging for the money they need to buy food or medicine. The film does not shy away from the sensory details of the collapse: the rolling blackouts caused by fuel shortages, the panic on the streets, and the palpable sense that the walls are closing in on every character.

Chronology of the Heist: From Despair to Action

The film’s structure follows a classic, albeit elevated, heist trajectory:

1. The Inciting Incident: Maro’s attempt to negotiate with a bank manager, armed only with documents proving her own ownership of her funds, ends in humiliation. It is the moment she realizes the rules of law no longer apply.
2. The Discovery: A stroke of luck brings Maro into the orbit of a concierge living adjacent to the bank. A quick discovery of a shared, vulnerable stud wall provides the structural opening they need.
3. The Research: Inspired by the legendary 1976 Beirut bank heist—where guerrillas absconded with over $20 million—the sisters resolve to execute their own version.
4. The Team Assembly: They enlist the help of two unlikely accomplices: Hamza (Hasan Akil), a volatile truck driver with a short fuse, and Sunshine (Issam Bou Khaled), a world-weary former Christian militia member seeking redemption or at least a distraction from his past.
5. The Execution: The film shifts into high-gear suspense as the four attempt to drill through the wall in the dead of night. The tension is masterfully sustained through a series of tactical diversions, including a street-side brawl staged by Hamza and Sunshine to distract authorities.

Supporting Data and Production Context

While the film is a work of fiction, it is grounded in the harsh reality of the 2019-present Lebanese financial crisis. The "embargo" on cash withdrawals depicted in the film is a direct reflection of the informal capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks, which effectively rendered the savings of millions of people inaccessible.

The production of Furies has been bolstered by the support of high-profile industry figures, most notably George Clooney, who serves as an executive producer. Reports from the festival circuit indicate that Clooney’s involvement was primarily hands-off, serving to provide the project with the institutional weight needed to protect the filmmakers’ vision rather than interfering in the creative process. This backing has allowed the film to retain its raw, unpolished edge, keeping the focus squarely on the moral ambiguity of its leads.

Implications: The Ethics of the "Desperate Act"

What elevates Furies from a standard genre piece to a profound piece of cinema is its "what-now" conclusion. The heist is not merely about the money; it is about the moral cost of the acquisition. As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that for Maro and Dalia to succeed in their escape to Turkey, they must deceive their own conspirators.

The film forces the audience to confront a difficult question: How many people—including the "little guys" like Hamza and Sunshine—are you willing to burn to ensure your own survival? The sisters are not traditional heroines; they are flawed, sometimes selfish, and often desperate people. Their motivations are frequently confounding, but their evolution from victims of the system to active participants in the "furious" chaos of the city is what gives the film its intellectual weight.

Kodeih pays explicit homage to the nihilistic tension of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear and William Friedkin’s Sorcerer. Like those films, Furies suggests that when a society collapses, the remnants of morality are the first things to be traded for a chance at a clean slate.

Critical Reception and Future Outlook

Premiering at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, Furies has already begun to stir significant conversation. Critics have noted the film’s kinetic energy and the raw performances of the lead actresses. The film currently sits with a "B" grade from early festival reviews, largely praised for its visceral filmmaking and its ability to turn a regional catastrophe into a universally understood thriller.

As it currently stands, Furies is seeking U.S. distribution. Given the film’s pedigree, the involvement of major talent, and its timely subject matter, it is expected to find a home in a market that is increasingly hungry for authentic, globally-minded cinema that doesn’t rely on the tropes of Western-centric storytelling.

In a world where economic precarity is becoming a universal experience, Furies hits a raw nerve. It is a loud, unapologetic, and emotionally complex piece of work that argues, quite convincingly, that when the world tells you that you have no options, the only option left is to take what is yours—even if it destroys you in the process.