The Attack (2013)

Just perfect...

hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Dr. Amin Jaafari is a non-practicing Muslim who is a celebrated surgeon in Tel Aviv. He still faces suspicions and racism but he seems to be the pinnacle of integration and secularism. Then everything changes when his Arab Christian wife Siham becomes a suicide bomber who killed 17 people including many children. He is devastated and isolated. He goes to seek the truth by himself.This movie takes the intractable Palestinian-Isreali conflict down to a personal level. The first half is filled with great tension. However it doesn't carry it all the way through. The reveal, if it could be called that, is not compelling enough. It hints on something more shattering. Also the use of a Christian wife demands something more than the unity-of-oppression argument. It seems like an unnecessary side trip. Mostly it worked because the first half is so strong, and the second half isn't too bad.

This film is highly recommended.At times, our world seems littered with random acts of violence. Just a glimpse at any newspaper will sadly confirm that statement. A tragic event can befall anyone. Anytime. Anyplace. Suddenly, one's life can veer from happiness to despair within seconds. The senselessness of a violent act and the unending repercussions that follow will permanently change that life and send one reeling with questions in search of inexplicable answers. That is the premise of the Ziad's Doueiri's taut mystery thriller, The Attack.Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman), a successful Arab doctor living in Israeli, receives the tragic news that his wife, Kim (Reymond Amsalem), has died as a result of a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, only to discover later that his wife may have been the actual bomber. As Amin searches for the truth, he begins to question their former relationship, the political and religious unrest between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the evil act itself.This Lebanese film looks at the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict in realistic terms and tries to show both sides without a judgmental knee-jerk reaction. The director sensitively handles this material with much directness and foresight. He rarely flinches from the brutality and blind-sighted extremism that permeates both factions. (Yet this film has been banned from Israeli and many Arab countries due to its controversial subject matter, a reprehensible act which I find troubling and disgraceful in that many will not see this powerful and thought- provoking film.) Doueiri and Joelle Touma co-scripted this drama based on Yasmina Khadra's novel and the results are literate and quite gripping. As Amin slowly unravels the clues to his wife's possible participation in this heinous crime, the audience is expertly drawn into this complicated ordeal with strong acting, especially by Suliman and Ansalem and Doueiri's solid direction. (Some of the clues do lack the element of surprise and seem a bit too obvious once revealed.) But The Attack attacks its subject with an honesty and skillfulness that allows moviegoers to contemplate the actions of radicals and fanatics that continue to cause harm to so many innocent victims, shouting their political rants under the guise of religion. There are many powerful scenes containing violent images that show the carnage and destruction caused by years of hatred and revenge. The film elicits emotional debate with its well-developed characters and its straightforward confrontations that build to a stunning denouncement. The Attack accomplishes its mission head-on and all those involved in this production should be commended for their courage and efforts. This solemn film is unafraid to deal with the complex issue of terrorism, even if fear and animosity have run amok in our changing world. The Attack needs to be seen. GRADE: B+NOTE: The censorship of this important film only emphasizes the length that controlling government officials and religious zealots will go to to silence its people and promote their irrational agendas to perpetuate this endless cycle of violence. Hopefully, films like The Attack will, one day, bring about some peace and understanding that everyone deserves. Unfortunately, for now, the war rages on.

Having said as much in my comment's title, as a film THE ATTACK is almost perfectly done. To say the it never drags for a second is understating it's compelling drama and story telling. To say it's artfully shot, scripted and directed becomes almost unappreciated and taken for granted in light of the movies' other attributes. To say the actors are magnificent makes one wonder how come many viewers have probably never seen any of them perform before. So intriguing and intense is the work that captivating suspense is almost a by-product. Putting all of the above together would make an Oscar-worthy film if the subject matter was aliens or teen love. But the subject matter is the contemporary Middle East tragedy. Such roughly parallels the lives of the USA's baby-boom generation and tends to become invisible by, ironically, the groaning decades of conflicts, bombings and hatred blurring into episodes with interchangeable parts. For my 17 year old son sitting next to me, I truly hope THE ATTACK served as a primer on the horror and tragedy of the Middle East today. Certainly the film must instantly be recognized as a must- see not just about the Israel-Palestinian conflict but religious and cultural dogma in general. Presently the film sits in my mind for many reasons, one being as a twisted bookend to EXODUS, which I first watched almost a half-century ago. If you're a serious film buff, don't miss this work!

Seldom comes a movie that keeps you glued to the screen without the need of some fancy special effect or camera move; one that has a story that is universal, involving, complex, and devastating. Here is the eternal conflict, one that continues despite our supposed maturing and evolving into much better characters.A successful doctor suddenly finds himself in the middle of a big mess as his wife might or not have committed a brutal act of terrorism. As the plot unfolds and he's inevitably questioned, more and more questions arise. Some of these are inquiries by the authorities who want to capture any other parties. Most of the ones the film deals with, are apparently of a personal nature for this is a love story between a man and his wife. This love story, however, has ended badly, and the mystery will be resolved by the end of the film.The doctor continues to suffer and slowly see his perfect universe fall apart as he discovers more and more of the truths that have surrounded him for a long time, yet he might not have wanted to see or acknowledge. The film delivers each one of them like a hard slap to his face, and it is painful to see that it's difficult to place a 100% of the blame on anyone, and that is equally impossible to justify any of the actions taken by anyone here. There are moments when one goes through a range of emotions similar to the main character, and this where this film excels for we learn to discover more than we might want to know.The film explores the cultural, political, and social differences between two types of people, and even at first, we can catch one furtive look from someone who is not happy with the success of the doctor. This gets more intense and clear as the investigation continues, and here the man is a pariah not wanted by anyone because he can't understand what happened, what is happening or what will happen. As usual, there is plenty of ignorance at the heart of the conflict, and the dialog in the film illustrates a lot of this. More and more questions continue to arise as the film nears its conclusion.There are many beautiful scenes in the movie, trying to explain the relationship between the doctor and his wife, and we keep wondering how it was possible that the events led to the attack. In the end, things become more clear, but questions remain, and they will continue as long as we fail to heal and embrace each other, finding a common ground, recognizing the similarities rather than the differences.Great film.