Omar
Directed by Hani Abu-Assad
Palestine | Arabic/Hebrew w/English subtitles | 96 mins
Palestinian entry to Oscars in 2014, Cannes 2014 Un Certain Regard – Special Jury Prize
Co-sponsored by the Burlington-Bethlehem-Arad Sister City Program, celebrating their 25th anniversary
Jonathan Romney in the London Observer: “This is a subtle political film: one that fully dramatises a situation and lets us think out its contradictions for ourselves. Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad made a mark in 2006 with his Paradise Now, a deeply provocative drama about suicide bombers. In a similar but somewhat more thrilleresque vein comes Omar, about a young man caught between love and his commitment to the Palestinian cause. Adam Bakri plays the hero, a young militant who goes on a mission with his two best friends, gets captured by Israeli intelligence, and realises that compromise and subterfuge may be the only way to win Nadia (Lubany), his friend’s sister, whom he intends to marry. As the intrigue tightens, so do the visuals a leitmotif, in the film’s many chase sequences, has Omar racing between walls that seem to be forever closing in on him. Sharply and sensitively acted, largely by newcomers, vibrantly shot by Ehab Assal (lots of Middle Eastern shades of terracotta and orange) and very briskly edited, Omar has the intimacy of a star-crossed romance and the political and moral complexity of a le Carré story. It’s a lean, controlled film and most compelling.”
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