Omar

To start with, I want to admit that I might be biased, as this movie is a local movie, with local actors, and local financing. Therefore, my review could be affected by what is so called local patriotism.

Nevertheless, I think that this movie is the best movie that I've watched in a long while. This movie tells the story of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the Palestinian point of view in a way that no movie did before. Yet, this movie could apply to any weak side that is living under oppression, anywhere on earth, such that everyone that has a heart can empathize with the oppressed, that is symbolized by the hero Omar. In addition, this movie contains numerous elements that one looks for in a movie: it has action scenes, dramatic events of betrayal and honesty, a pure and naive love story, friendship, funny scenes, and above all, it makes the audience ask questions and think.

To conclude, this movie is a must watch as it tells a story in a moving manner (some people even cried at the end..). In addition, by watching it you'll be supporting the uprising of the Palestinian movie scene, that has many great talents.

I watched Omar (2013, directed by Hany Abu-Assad) last night and thought how well Abu-Assad translated a twisting, conniving, chaotic, and disruptive sociopolitical situation to the mis-en-scene and plot points of his film. The story hooked me the moment it began and didn't let go until the end, or perhaps even after it ended. My only complaint came from initially thinking that the plot points seemed forced and overly-contrived. However, once I had time to think and discuss the film with my wife Hannah, I began to see how the story followed the situation in the West Bank. The character's lives are surrounded by conceit and violence. They maneuver through their neighborhoods over walls and through back alleys. This mindset is encapsulated in the story.The acting and cinematography furthers its cause. We are left scratching our heads, but that's what the citizens of the West Bank do year-after-year and the I believe that's the greater point Abu-Assad is trying to make.

I saw this film at the Ghent (Belgium) film festival 2013. I usually avoid films involving the Israel versus Palestine controversy, but this one looked different while reading the synopsis on the festival website. Central theme is the relationships between people on both sides of the fence, be it family, lovers, friends or schoolmates. The separation fence (border wall) was announced to play a visible role in the plot, a literally high obstacle to be crossed to maintain contact. Also, this film is completely produced at (and financed from) the Palestinian side of the border, something that does not happen very often, awaking interest in spite of the location.

Some negative remarks first. I had problems identifying myself with the main characters and their customs, where flirting, courting, proposing, engaging, and finally getting married seems a convoluted process. At least that is what we think when seeing it through our Western European eyes, where this works very differently. And such things are even more complicated in the middle of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. A very visible role in the plot has a huge wall that we see several times being crossed illegally, as an obstacle to surmount when visiting a woman you love on the other side. After reading the synopsis on the festival website, I deemed this wall a metaphorical role at first, but the underlying political conflict creeps in more and more when getting further in the story.

But there are also many positive things to say about the movie. These film makers get across perfectly, maybe precisely that being their most important achievement, how difficult it is to know for sure in such an environment who can be trusted. Who is on your side, and who is not? Everyone can be a traitor, either because of religious beliefs, bad experiences, blackmail, family secrets, physical pressure, or while relatives or loved ones are held hostage. Given these examples, one may state that not even someone you know from childhood, can be considered full-proof trustworthy material. And what about someone who was imprisoned for a while, but released seemingly before he did the allotted time behind bars? How can you prove you are not a mole, when everyone assumes otherwise??

All in all, as a finished feature film coming from a country we don't recognize as producing films that are worthy to be programmed in a film festival, this one certainly is notable and shows a promising future for these film makers. As of this writing, the film made a good head start for the audience award (2nd place, average score 4.43 out of 5). I deduce that my feeling of remote involvement tells more about me than about the film itself. But anyway, see for yourself as it may provide for some more insight in the underlying political and religious conflicts that seem unsolvable within the foreseeable future.

"Omar" (2013 release from Palestine; 96 min.) brings the story of Omar and his friends Tarek and Amjad. As the movie opens, we see Omar climbing over the separation wall (diving Israel from the West bank) to see the girl of his dreams, Nadja. Tarek pushes Omar and Amjad to be more active in their fight against the Israelis, and at one point they shoot and kill an Israeli border guard, but it isn't long before Omar is apprehended by the Israeli police. Given the choice of being jailed for many years, or instead to be set free and lure Tarek into the hands of the Israelis, Omar chooses the latter. In a separate story line, we learn that Amjad also has his eyes on Nadja. Is Omar really going to snitch on his friends? Who will win Nadja's heart? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, when you get a Palestine movie in which there is conflict with the Israelis, you automatically expect that this will be a political movie. Yet it really isn't the case at all. Instead, this movie looks at the conflicts of being a reluctant informant, and the resulting mind games being played. Second, this is an equally compelling family drama, with two guys chasing the same girl, of course in the context of strict family traditions and even stricter religion. Third, The movie contains a number of great performances, including Adam Bakri in the title role and the beautiful Leem Lubany in the role of Nadja. Last but certainly not least, I never saw the end coming, and it frankly was a little bit of a shock.

This movie scored an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Movie, which will be decided tomorrow. The category is pretty stacked this year, and I doubt that "Omar" will win. That doesn't take anything away from this movie, though, which I found compelling from start to finish. I saw the movie last weekend at the West End Cinema in Washington DC, and the early matinée showing where I saw it, was reasonably well attended. This movie certainly deserves to be seen (as are all the other Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Movie), be it in the theater or on DVD/Blu-ray. "Omar" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

If the saga of Omar were a wine, it would have to be described as "Shakespearian, with notes of Dante, Orwell, Golding, and Sartre." Omar is a basically decent, seemingly uncomplicated young bakery worker who is inexorably drawn into the violent political warfare of the West Bank through his love for a girl, his increasingly radicalized circle of friends from childhood, and Israeli injustice. Right up to its unexpected, yet expectable, ending Omar is more victim than protagonist.

Clearly anti-Israeli in tone, the film explores the many reasons why Palestinians maintain an abiding antagonism toward Israel and Israelis. A driving metaphor in the film is the 25 foot high wall that Omar scales regularly to visit Nadia, his intended. Although The Wall was ostensibly designed to separate the Jewish West Bank settlements from Palestinians, it even more effectively separates Palestinian towns, families, and friends from one another--and from their water supplies in many places. To visit a neighboring town along is course has often become virtually impossible for having to detour long distances around the wall's tortuous path and passing through multiple checkpoints. Similarly, the Israeli military and police strive to divide and isolate individuals and groups psychologically just as the wall does physically. It's a classic use of divide-and-conquer strategy, which is one of the film's principal plot threads. Whatever your views of the Israel-Palestine situation, this thoroughly absorbing film will challenge them.