“Omar”, by Hany Abu-Assad, is another film about double
lives on the West Bank. Actually, it is
a well-crafted thriller with plot twists toward the end that seem inspired by
Hitchcock (perhaps “Saboteur”).
As the film opens, Omar (Adam Bakri) is trying to climb “The
Wall” like SpideMan, and getting shot at.
Soon, we see his family life in a crowded West Bank town, where everyone
has to go through checkpoints to go to work.
He routinely risks the wall to see his girlfriend Nadja (Lee Lubany).
Omar is lean, agile, and handsome.
Soon Omar and some of his pals show their solidarity by
shooting an Israeli soldier as snipers.
It’s one of who friends who fires the bullet. But Omar (after many foot chases through the
crowded Nablus streets) is captured. After
some extreme rendition (resembling the film of that name, as well as “Midnight
Express”) and jail, Omar agrees to play double agent, with the fatherly
intelligence chief Rami (Waleed Zuaiter).
His loyalty to his friends, his cause, his girl friend, family and
everything else will be tested in constant double crosses. Part of the plot involves a pregnancy, and
another part involves his level of skill with weapons. The final scene will please the NRA.
I saw this film at the Angelika Mosaic in Merrifield, VA
before a substantial late Sunday crowd
The official site from Adopt Films and The Match Factory is
here.
The film certainly demonstrates the confiscation of
Palestinian lives because the Israelis see all of them as enemies. The work of George Meek and the IFPB has been
documented on my International Issues blog Dec. 23, 2012 and May 20, 2013.
Wikipedia attribution link for picture of Separation Wall.
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