Movie Critic Review: The Attack 2012

Article by: Amal Mustafa

The Tarantino Crew Member Shocked by Arab Boycott!

Arab-Israeli Art and Artillery!

Ziad Doueiri

Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri is back on the international scene with a new movie The Attack. 

His previous movie West Beirut had met with great success and awards.

The Attack which is based on a novel by Algerian writer Yasmina Khadra, has been banned from Lebanese theaters as a large part of it was shot on location in Israel and its cast included Israeli actors! The debate is still on as to whether it will be allowed to screen it in Lebanon and other Arab countries.

The movie is a bold attempt at tackling the same old daring questions about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But how does the movie present these questions? Who is shocked in the shock of The Attack? Who is the culprit? When innocent kids are killed who is the freedom-fighter and who is the terrorist? Can sacrifice and patriotism be reduced to mere commando operations? Is it only Muslims that die for their countries? Is it treason to live and have a good job in a country that is enemy to yours? How do we define the bastard? Is he the one who does not know his father? Or is he the one that does not know his roots?

Amin, a Palestinian surgeon, who managed to secure a good professional position in Israel and to live a respectable life there with a beautiful wife whom he loved, has his whole life suddenly

overturned when his wife is found to be one of the perpetrators of a suicidal operation which claimed

the lives of many including eleven children and in which she herself lost her life.

Ali Suliman as Amin

Amin decides to go to Palestine to find out the reasons behind his wife's participation in a suicidal operation. There he discovers other factors that were unknown to him. Amen returns back to Israel

with a heart so sad over the loss of his beloved wife, the loss of a beloved homeland and of....Truth!

Amin and his wife

The movie poses the parallel lines of narrative about an unfulfilled love story inside an unrealized home country while surpassing the limits of political reality and opening the door for all different points of view without bias to any of them and without political or ethical judgement. It appeals to the human dimension as the sole authority.

In the clip below Ziad discusses the banning of his movie. 

The Attack was featured at the Toronto Int'l Film festival (TIFF) 2012. It won the Gold Star prize at the the Marrakech International Film Festival in Morocco in its twelfth session 2012. Currently, it is

shown in different French theaters amid good public attendance. Worthy of mention that Filmmaker Ziad

was an assistant cameraman for Quentin Tarantino for seven years (in From Dusk Till Dawn, Pulp Fiction,

Reservoir Dogs etc.)

The Attack 2012, 102 min.

Genre: Drama (political/psychological/existential) 

Production: Lebanon, France, Belgium and Qatar.

Screenplay: Zeiad Doueiri and Joelle Touma (his wife)

Cast: Ali Suliman, Evgenia Dodena, Reymond Amsalem.

Original Music: Eric Neveux