Ziad Doueiri's The Insult dramatizes a perilous mutation, in which a slight becomes a culture-rattling event that threatens to explode tensions left over from the Lebanese civil war. In Beirut, Tony Hanna (Adel Karam) is a proud Christian with an animus toward Palestinians. Yasser Salameh (Kamel El Basha), an older Palestinian who's landed a good job as a construction foreman, is overseeing a project to rebuild refugee camps in the north. Working near Tony's apartment, Yasser notices an illegal drainpipe spitting water into the street. ![]() Yasser asks to repair the pipe but Tony refuses. Legally empowered to do the work over Tony's objections, Yasser fixes the pipe, which Tony then destroys. Yasser is polite and matter of fact throughout this conflict, while Tony suggests a vain peacock itching to pick a pointless fight. The altercation ends with Yasser finally taking the bait and calling Tony a “prick.” For many, this would probably be the end of it, but Tony demands an apology, spurring a court case that becomes a symbol of Lebanon's identity crisis. Americans watching The Insult may initially assume that Tony's fed up with the construction work that's glutting his neighborhood and is finding an inappropriate outlet for his aggression. ![]() Doueiri utilizes construction work—a commonly understood nuisance—as a symbol of the fraught tensions existing between Lebanese Christians and Palestinians. The titular insult seems to spring out of nowhere, when we still believe that Tony's the sole protagonist of the narrative. Doueiri quickly sets his narrative pieces in action, within the first 10 minutes of the film's running time, so that the audience feels the speed with which banal details add up to something potentially catastrophic. The Lebanese civil war is one of countless nesting outgrowths of the modern formation of Israel. Wars, negotiations, and smaller skirmishes, overseen by outside countries with their own inherent interests, left countless Palestinians without a country. And Lebanon was among the places they landed, forming refugee camps that have become permanent—such as the camp that Yasser is helping to rebuild in The Insult. Lebanon's political liberals are sympathetic to the Palestinians, while the political right stokes the fires of nationalist resentment. These tensions should remind Americans of their own fights, particularly over the legacy of slavery and immigration. Ziad Doueiri’s film is well acted and staged with periodic liveliness, but its earnestness grows wearying. When Tony demands an apology over a fight he started, he's asking for Yasser to atone for what he sees as a legacy of Palestinian intrusion and violation. ![]() The Naked Gun 33 1/3 The Final Insult 1994 1080p Movie Free Download - HD Popcorns, Direct download 720p HD movies and 1080p HD movies just in single click.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2018
Categories |