The Insult

A superbly constructed and written, excellently directed and wonderfully acted film. It is specifically about Lebanon, but the kind of conflict it depicts, and the attitudes taken up by the antagonists, could and do flare up anywhere. The film is even-handed in depicting the factions. Everyone has their reasons, their justifications, their excuses. The full gamut of society, from President to car mechanic, is involved, implicated, complicated. Certainly one of the best movies I've seen this year.

The poster for The Insult, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, doesn't quite do the product justice. It makes the film look like a simple tragic drama; in fact The Insult builds on its intriguing premise of a simple insult escalating, and balances feelings of remorse, tensions and even comedy and absurdity in a brisk tone and style. A film where the prosecutor and defense are father and daughter, and the shock reveal, is a film that isn't totally taking itself seriously. But it reflects on very serious wounds in the past and the lack of reconciliation after, a followup to a tragic story previously depicted in an earlier Oscar nominee Incendies. But Incendies was Canadian and The Insult is actually Lebanese, the first Lebanese film to be nominated, and it speaks in a national voice.

With only some minor violence, The Insult's story largely escalates in the courtroom, and anyone interested in courtroom films will find this great material. I had to stop myself from saying "courtroom drama," because again, it's not only that. The absurdities provoke laughs, the drama provokes thought, and The Insult has something for everybody, even people who know little about Lebanon (The film itself explains much of the gaps in knowledge for the viewer).

I live and work in Lebanon for already a decade, so I'm well accustomed to local ways and habits, frequently "justified" through common phrases of the following kind: "This is Lebanon... Only in Lebanon... Welcome to Lebanon!"

In my ongoing increased attendance to movie theatres, and exposure to current repertoire, "The Insult" (original title "L'insulte", literal English translation of Arabic title "Case No. 23") (2017), was my last choice. Now that I've seen it, I realized that it should've been the first! Namely, while other feature movies from the contemporary repertoire, even those allegedly inspired by true events, are mostly telling excessively exaggerated, hard-to-believe stories, revolving around almost out-of-this-world heroes, thus flooding the A-movie market with commercial exploitism, otherwise exemplified in low-budget films, "The Insult", based on deeply insightful screenplay written by Ziad Doueiry and Joëlle Touma, and compassionately directed by the former, is richly soaked into (Lebanese) reality.

What starts as an every-day incident (cited in the title) in an average Beirut neighbourhood, within minutes grows into a bigger conflict between two ostensibly unreasonably stubborn personalities, and spirals out of proportion to a high-profile courtroom drama and a matter of an almost utmost national interest.

What happens here is not unknown (m)anywhere else in the World. It's only that in Lebanon it has greater gravity and impact due to well-advertised, for more than half a century closely monitored, media covered multitude of regional and local political problems, ever so easily reviving and fuelling age-old animosities based on ethnic, religious and sectarian antagonisms, as well as rivalries between the autochthonous communities and migrants--whether economic immigrants, or internally and externally displaced refugees--ergo plethora of political, economic and humanitarian challenges.

Actors did a good job, and although sometimes way to eloquent and theatrical, especially, not unexpectedly, lawyers in the courtroom scenes, at least they provide ample historical background which could explain but not justify all the buildup subsequent to otherwise an ordinary incident. However, silences and exchanged glances between conflicting protagonists, Toni, a Lebanese Christian (Adel Karam), and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee (Kamel El Basha), often speak even more than words!

The very ending is a bit vague, but so is the broader context, involving multifaceted interests, creating tensions, eternal conflicts whatsoever, sadly, with no solution in sight, neither at present, nor in the foreseeable future?

As it was mentioned by the end of the movie nobody has monopoly for suffering. I would like to add for happiness, neither, which makes it even harder to accept endlessly ongoing bitter realities people of (not only) Lebanon have to live.

All in all, "The Insult" is a fine courtroom drama, which keeps you at the edge of the seat. It is an almost perfect Lebanese movie, fairly cut even for international audience, well worth seeing.

"The Insult" (2017 release from Lebanon; 112 min.) brings the story of Tony, a Christian Lebanese, and Yasser, a Palestine refugee and long-time resident of Lebanon. As the movie opens, we see Tony at a rally of the Christian party in Beirut. When Tony gets back home, he spends time with his highly pregnant wife Shirine. Them by accident, and resulting from a faulty drainpipe on his balcony, he wets Yasser, a foreman in a construction crew that is repairing buildings in the neighborhood. One thing leads to another, and Yasser calls Tony a "f---ing prick". Tony is outraged, and decides to pursue the matter. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from accomplished Lebanese writer-director Zid Doueiri, who previously has brought us excellent films like 2012's "The Attack". Here Doueiri brings another heavily politicized tale that pushes all the right buttons, this time pitting Arabs against Arabs. I must admit that I wasn't really aware of this, but if we believe what Doueiri portrays in this film, there is a deeply-seeded resentment within the Lebanese Christian community against the many Palestinians what have over the years crossed into Lebanon and settled there. Central to the film are the long court proceedings that eventually take place between the two protagonists. I shan't say much more (biting my lip)! But I will say this: the movie flies by in no time. When the Best Foreign language Oscar nominations were recently accounted, I was a bit surprised to see that this was nominated. Now that I have seen the film, I can't help but feel whether this was nominated more for political reasons that for pure artistic reasons. Not to imply that "The Insult" is not a good movie, but in my humble opinion there are other foreign language movies from last year that seem to be more deserving, such as "Thelma" (from Norway). "B.P.M." (from France), or "The Commune" (from Denmark), just to name those.

"The Insult" opened in early February at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Super Bowl Sunday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely, somewhat to my surprise. Glad to see there seems to be a strong interest for this! If you are in the mood for a highly charged and political drama that pits Christian Arabs against Palestine Arabs, you cannot go wrong with this, so I encourage you to check out "The Insult", be it in the theatre, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion...

The movie is set in Lebanon, and based on real Lebanese problems. However, the setting could be in another country, another time, with two other groups that hate each other. It is about the universal problem of wrath and resentment boiling over. The movie is well done, with some unnecessary dramatic flourishes - the story is dramatic enough in itself and didn't need these additional items (Don't wish to say what exactly in order not to have any spoilers). In any case it deserves its Oscar nomination.