Der Affront (2017)

Der Affront: Directed by Ziad Doueiri. With Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamand Bou Abboud. After an emotional exchange between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee escalates, the men end up in a court case that gets national attention.

“I live and work in Lebanon for already a decade, so Iu0026#39;m well accustomed to local ways and habits, frequently u0026quot;justifiedu0026quot; through common phrases of the following kind: u0026quot;This is Lebanon… Only in Lebanon… Welcome to Lebanon!u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn my ongoing increased attendance to movie theatres, and exposure to current repertoire, u0026quot;The Insultu0026quot; (original title u0026quot;Lu0026#39;insulteu0026quot;, literal English translation of Arabic title u0026quot;Case No. 23u0026quot;) (2017), was my last choice. Now that Iu0026#39;ve seen it, I realized that it shouldu0026#39;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, u0026quot;The Insultu0026quot;, based on deeply insightful screenplay written by Ziad Doueiry and Joëlle Touma, and compassionately directed by the former, is richly soaked into (Lebanese) reality.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat happens here is not unknown (m)anywhere else in the World. Itu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActors 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!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 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?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, u0026quot;The Insultu0026quot; 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.”