Movie: Omar
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Cast: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Eyad Hourani, Samer Bisharat
Rating: ****
Palestinian Director Hany Abu – Assad, known for his brilliant ‘Paradise Now’, comes up with another intense and gripping thriller, Omar.
Trust is the basis of all relationships, be it love or friendship. It is built on a deep respect for a person with a feeling that he or she would stand by you irrespective of the tough consequences. But it is quite likely that a question could arise whether the same trust would hold well in a broader scenario, just as “here in Israeli occupied Palestine”, and this happens to be the heart of the story.
Omar (Adam Bakri) is a Palestinian baker, who regularly scales the Israeli built security wall that divides Palestinian towns to meet his lady love Nadia (Leem Lubany). He also engages himself in other activities on “this side of the wall” along with his childhood friends, Nadia’s brother Tarek (Eyad Hourani), and Amjad (Samer Bisharat). They train themselves on their own and consistently plan schemes to strike at the Israelis. This is considered as a fight for their freedom, and ultimately end up taking part in shooting of an Israeli soldier. Finally, the three were chased through the streets and eventually Omar gets caught, though he wasn’t the one to pull the trigger off.
The imprisoned Omar who endures horrific torture refuses to speak out until an Israeli agent Rami (Waleed Zuaiter) offers him a deal. As per the deal, Omar would be released on a condition that he should betray his friends and hand over Tarek to one of the Israeli agents; and Omar gets caught in a situation where he has to make a choice between the loyalty and his future, and thus finally decides to make an attempt in justifying both the parties. In addition to this, he is also caught in a strange love triangle involving his lady love Nadia and friend Amjad.
All credits to the director Abu – Assad for making this a powerful thriller and a well narrated love story without being overtly political. The complexity of the story is never weighed down by the political intrigue. He is successful in portraying daily lives of people on the West bank and the endless conflict that has been part of their lives, who desire to lead normal lives, to marry the girl they love and have kids but they also desire to see Palestine as a free country, thus making their lives unsettled.
Bakri as Omar ticks of all right notes in this role of an unsettled, struggling young man. Zuaiter is also equally powerful as agent Rami, bringing in some humane side to his otherwise unsympathetic role.
The film’s final scene is chilling, though you sort of sense it coming but still shocks you when it occurs, may be its inevitable for Omar.
Review by guest author Prudhvi Raj
