10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Star

People coming together to fight back against their oppressors is always a welcome theme in film. Ordinary citizens fighting a system that has beaten them down at every turn makes for a story that can inspire hope for a better future, barreling towards a new tomorrow. Rami Kodeih’s Furies takes this a step further by also making its protagonists mad as all hell. In the midst of the Lebanese banking crisis, sisters Maro and Dalia are forced to plan a heist in order to steal money back for themselves. The film shows what average people are capable of when pushed to their limits, and that we all have the power to rise up and take what we’re owed from the governments that refuse to give that to us. What Kodeih really excels at is attaching you to these characters. From the second they’re on screen you’re behind them, and you’re on that ride with them until the very end. The movie portrays the good and the bad of people taking matters into their own hands, and how the rage you may feel can mean nothing when that’s all you have.

Furies follows Maro and Dalia (brought to life by Rym Mroue and Maria Nakouzi respectively), sisters planning a heist from the bank that tells Maro all of their money is in limbo. They gain the help of a kind neighborhood man with a dark past named Sunshine and an angry, impulsive debtor named Hamza. Dalia is diagnosed with stage one cancer and Maro goes to a bank to withdraw some of her own money in order to pay for the surgery. She’s rejected with the bank manager telling her that they don’t have any cash in the vault. Maro, obviously spotting the lie, is filled with rage. On her way out of the bank, her heel breaks and she’s met with a man offering to help fix her shoe. As luck would have it, he lives in an apartment that shares a wall with the bank. Maro sees this as an opportunity, and the two sisters use that as the base for their heist.

The two acknowledge pretty early on that they can’t do it alone. They first try to bring in Sunshine, the older man around the neighborhood who typically helps the sisters out whenever he can. Through him, the sisters get the idea to invite Hasan Akil’s Hamza. They’re initially reluctant to do this as they know he’s got a short fuse and isn’t the most trustworthy. These four characters are the heart of the story, and Kodeih immediately familiarizes you with each of them. Within ten minutes of meeting each one you understand them and their situations, even if you’re not comfortable with them. You don’t have to suspend your disbelief to get behind the backstories of any one of them; they’re just normal people who are frustrated. Maro and Dalia are frustrated with the unfairness of the world, Sunshine is full of regret for what he’s done in the past, and Hamza is frustrated that he can’t have it all. It’s what sets it apart from something like Steven Soderbergh’s slick Ocean’s films. (Fun fact: George Clooney’s production company actually helped out with this one.)

That being said, the filmmaking technique on display here is pretty on par with one of Soderbergh’s heist films. Kodeih edited the film himself and it’s swift. It’s a very clean and satisfying edit with the film’s heist itself proving to be incredibly engaging. Their lack of experience draws you in. This team is not professional by any means. They’re emotional and angry, but that’s part of the film’s identity. The core theme pushing it forward is that you and the people around you are not powerless in the face of the corrupt world you find yourself in. There is strength in the will of ordinary people who band together to fight back, and this film inspires you to rise up and do what you can because at a certain point too much is too much. The film also tells you that that’s not all there is to it though. Maybe you’re someone like Sunshine with regret in your heart, and you standing up is a way for you to make amends. Hamza is at the other extreme end of this, thinking being angry towards everyone is the answer when it isn’t. You can’t be self centered in the face of societal collapse.

Rami Kodeih soars in his feature film debut. It’s delicate in the handling of its message, and it’s clear the passion behind it is there completely. Maro, Dalia, Sunshine, and Hamza are four well written characters that are a treat to be able to spend two hours with, picking apart their desires and motivations whenever possible. Kodeih’s editing makes every scene transition seamless without losing the message and momentum of whatever comes before it. Furies is a hopeful story about average people coming together to fight back against the injustice they face, and it’s incredibly inspiring.

TIFF 2026 | Movie Review: “Furies” Steals Your Heart While Beating To The Rhythm Of Civilian Uprising