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Katja’s life collapses after the death of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.
Rarely do two compelling courtroom dramas arrive in Dallas the very same week, from two very disparate places. Unfortunately, the one thing they do have in common is hate and intolerance. But that shouldn’t deter you from seeing either of these powerful films.
“The Insult,” directed by Ziad Doueiri, begins innocently enough, with a verbal dispute between Tony (Adel Karam), a Lebanese Christian and Yasser (Kamel El Basha), a Palestinian refugee. When tempers flare, the controversy turns physical, and eventually, the two men square off in court. During the proceedings, Tony utters a phrase for which he is accused of Zionism and the situation escalates into a social explosion that envelops Beirut and threatens to divide an already fractured city.
“The Insult” premiered at the 2017 Venice International Film Festival was nominated this past week for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards®. The film is a microcosm that parallels Middle East politics, with Israel at the core of the discussion.
The background story of co-writer/director Doueiri is almost as compelling as “The Insult.” According to a story published in the New York Times, Doueiri was returning to Beirut to celebrate the debut of “The Insult” where he was expecting a hero’s welcome, but instead was detained at the airport and accused of treason. And exactly what was his crime? His last movie “The Attack,” about an Arab-Israeli surgeon whose wife becomes a suicide bomber, was filmed in Israel. Apparently, in Lebanon, this is not legal. Doueiri was able to travel to Israel on his American passport, but he was accused of being a Zionist. Art and politics make for truly strange bedfellows.
Opens in Dallas Friday, February 2nd at the Landmark Magnolia
The Insult
In today’s Beirut, an insult blown out of proportions finds Toni, a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee, in court. From secret wounds to traumatic revelations, the media circus surrounding the case puts Lebanon through a social explosion, forcing Toni and Yasser to reconsider their lives and prejudices.
“In the Fade” escorts us into a very different courtroom scene, but one that is brimming with as much hate. The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and has been racking up awards since it’s first screening. At Cannes, Diane Kruger won Best Actress and more recently, “In the Fade” won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in the Foreign Language category. Locally, it was nominated by both the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association and the North Texas Film Critics Association as Best Foreign Language Film. But inexplicably, it was snubbed by the Oscars® and failed to get a nomination.
It follows the story of Katja (Diane Kruger) and her struggle to accept the death of her husband Nuri Şekerci, a Turkish immigrant and her son Rocco by a bomb planted outside Nuri’s Hamburg office. Although the film is revealed in three sections, the trial is at its core. The two suspects are a grim looking husband and wife who are members of a neo-Nazi group with roots in Greece. Greece?
According to the press notes, the director, Faith Akin, wrote the story which mirrors the xenophobic murders at the hands of the German neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Underground. They occurred throughout Germany between 2000 and 2007. The news accounts struck a chord with Akin, who was quoted as saying that the film is about “that universal feeling of grief and its many layers.”
Just how far would you go to seek justice? That’s a question we hope never to have to answer. Please don’t let the bleak description deter you from seeing this film. On the contrary, if you don’t already know just how far-reaching are the tentacles of hate, it will send shivers down your spine. Isn’t it important that we know? Like certain books that are required reading in school, these films should be mandatory for just about everyone who wants to understand what is going on in the Middle East and beyond.
Opens in Dallas and Plano Friday, February 2nd at the Angelika Film Center and Cafe. Playing now in Austin at the Arbor Cinemas at Great Hills 8. Opening March 2nd in El Paso at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Montecillo 8 and Alamo Drafthouse – Lubbock 8
Reprinted with permission of the TJP.
