THE ATTACK screening : 2013 Montclair Film Festival
May 3rd, 2013 by Mr. C
Director: Ziad Doueiri
Stars: Ali Suliman,Evgenia Dodena,Reymond Amsalem,Dvir Benedek,Uri Gavriel
Genre: Drama, Thriller
From the local, small time thugs in the U.K. from WASTELAND to a much bigger stage and unfortunately, somewhat realistic happenings in our world today comes this disturbing but excellent film – THE ATTACK.
The skinny of the film takes us on a ride to modern day Tel Aviv as an Arab surgeon (Ali Suliman) learns a mind-blowing secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. The opening sequences of the film would create light mentions of the everyday lives in this part of the world where Arabs co-exist with the Israelis but the juxtaposition of the two cultures colliding can turn light ripples of friendliness into bigger waves of destruction. Our main character, Dr. Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman) is a man that is not tied to any particular religious beliefs and is leading a very affluent lifestyle along with his wife – Siham (Reymond Amsalem), a devout Christian. Everything seems cool as a breeze as Dr. Amin Jaafari is being recognized with a medical achievement award which is equivalent to the Oscars in the medical field while the wife seems to be in a very happy place as they both have assimilated to the lifestyle and culture in Tel Aviv rather well. Suddenly a bombing in the city that killed 17 people would change the rest of their lives forever as Arabs living in an Israeli society. How well do you really know your loved one. We will come to find out!
The Attack raises a lot of questions on the culture of terrorism, suicide bombings, and self-worth. I hate to bring up religion but these horrendous acts seem to use religion as an excuse – a mask – a vehicle to fool those who are disillusioned & impressionable into performing such hellish crusades which will bring glory upon their cause, their people, god forbid – their religion. Instead, they are causing harm to the innocent, themselves, and loved ones. This powerful movie opens up the discussion highway to a century old conflict between two nations. The film attempts to try to understand the suicide bombing by putting a face, a personality, an emotion to the martyr of the act to justify the reasoning behind such desperate crimes. If any flaw or fault can be found in the movie, it’s that the story takes a turn that is a bit over-dramatized and unrealistic. However with the not realistic comes a conversation with a priest and a brush with an Imam that proves to be revealing.
The Attack also intensifies the spotlight on individuals with a lack of identity, a sense of being ‘Out of Place’, and to some just being plain old ignorant or brainwashed to the matters at hand.
On the flipside, a man that is well educated who gives back to the community as a medical healer is suddenly looked at with guilty eyes when he straddles both sides of the fence meanwhile his own people regard him as a traitor, as a man that lives amongst the enemy. Such a dichotomy exists within these confines.
The acting performances of the entire cast was excellent with special shoutouts to the main character Dr. Amin Jaafari and the detective who played the aggressive interrogator. The roles they played were frighteningly lifelike! The scene when they showed the sequence of psychological torture with the practice of playing loud music to promote sleep deprivation in hopes to break down the accused into a confession or statement seemed all to real. Looking at the big picture in the end, it sounds easy to say that providing evidence to incriminate your own is a moral obligation as a citizen in that particular country, however with the state of affairs between Arabs and Israelis, it’s not quite that simple.
The Attack takes a riveting and gut-wrenching look at such an ordeal. Go see this film and have a friendly discussion to make sense of it all!
The Montclair Film Festival continues to run through to the weekend of May 5th! Catch a screening or 10!
Tags: 2013 montclair film festival, drama, mff13, thriller
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