A personal dispute between two men in Beirut, one Christian Lebanese and the other Palestinian, escalates into a highly-charged and very public trial that unearths unresolved social and political issues throughout Lebanon that have been simmering since the civil war ended in 1990.
The Oscar-nominated THE INSULT was Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Awards, and is a strong contender for the award in the Best Foreign-Language film category. Director Ziad Doueiri’s courtroom drama spotlights the resentment of some Christian Lebanese towards the Palestinian refugees who poured over their border from Israel and played a role in their civil role. The immigration issue is a universal topic that will strike a familiar note in this country, but the well-crafted, nuanced drama brings out tensions still simmering in Lebanese society, and personal memories of the war.
In THE INSULT, the personal becomes political even though that is not what the two parties involved want. Tony Hanna (Adel Karam) is a Lebanese Christian mechanic/garage owner who resents the Palestinian refugees living in his country. He and his pregnant wife Shirine (Rita Hayek) live in an apartment in Beirut, on a street that is undergoing improvements. While Tony is watering the plants on his porch, some water spills on a Palestinian construction worker below, Yasser Salameh (Kamel El Basha), due to an improperly installed drainage pipe. An argument ensues and Tony’s rude behavior eventually prompts Yasser to call him an insulting name. Tony complains to Yasser’s boss and demands Yasser apologize, which he resists. When Yasser finally comes to apologize, Tony taunts him with an ethnic insult and, angered, Yasser punches him instead.
The personal dispute ends up in court. When the first judge dismisses the case, Tony raises the stakes by hiring a politically-connected high-powered lawyer, Wajdi Wehbe (Camille Salameh), for an appeal. What started out as a trivial matter evolves into a high-profile trial and a media circus fires up the nation, revealing social and political divisions simmering below the surface since the civil war’s end in 1990.
The courtroom drama format allows director Doueiri to raise social and political issues that have remained unresolved in Lebanon after the civil war ended. Doueiri offers a human perspective, one that focuses on the devastating effects of war on all people who experience it, and a thoughtful and even-handed examination of these issues and viewpoints, one in shades of gray rather than black and white. He also looks at how personal disputes can escalate into wars and how political and social disagreements can lead to personal conflicts.
Besides its social and political commentary, THE INSULT is just good entertaining drama as well. There are strong personalities facing off in court and some interpersonal drama between the attorney for the plaintiff and one for the defendant. While both Yasser and Tony are proud and hot-headed, their wives are moderating voices, trying to calm them while still offering support.
Once the trial gets underway, political factions and motives of the lawyers involved blow it up into something far more than the personal tiff it started as. It becomes the center of public attention, dividing opinion and creating a heated situation that erupts in riots. As one character observes, “this is how wars get started.” Doueiri resolves the story on a more hopeful note but the near-disaster make this a cautionary tale.
Actors Adel Karam and Kamel El Basha are both excellent in their roles. Both Tony and Yasser are proud, stubborn, and hot-tempered but they both are also basically decent people. Each feels he is the offended party. Yasser, an educated engineer with international experience, resents that his status as a refugee, and therefore not allowed to work legally, means he can only get low-level construction jobs. Tony, on the other hand, thinks anti-discrimination laws designed to protect Palestinian refugees actually creates a system that favors them over people like him. Tony says all he wants is an apology but he can’t seem to stop goading Yasser. Still there are moments, poignant ones, where the two appear on the verge of just settling the whole matter and letting it go.
Once the trial turns political, both Yasser and Tony seem horrified. Yet, the trial uncovers personal experiences from the war that help explain their feelings and resentments. The trial also reveals a generational divide in the country, in the relationship between the younger defense lawyer differing in her views from the older attorney for the plaintiff.
THE INSULT opens with a disclaimer, that the views in it are those of the filmmaker and not the Lebanese government. Like the director’s 2012 film THE ATTACK, a mystery about a suicide bombing set and partly filmed in Israel, THE INSULT has been banned in some Middle Eastern countries. Ironically, director Ziad Doueiri had his own bit of legal drama when he flew to Lebanon for the film’s premiere. He was detained at the airport with a charge of treason, not related to this film but his 2012 mystery thriller THE ATTACK, which was filmed in Israel. Lebanon considers Israel an enemy nation and forbids its citizens to travel there. Doueiri, who holds both Lebanese and French passports, was released without charge after questioning. The incident is a perfect fit for the complex and conflicting political and social situation that the film highlights.
THE INSULT is a strong and thoughtful drama, one that has a lot to say on a number of social and political issues, while also providing engrossing entertainment as a courtroom drama. Rather that painting issues or people in black and white, the film takes a human approach, creating flawed but decent human characters, examining differing points of view and putting them in context of personal experience in war. It is perhaps Doueiri best film to date and it is clear to see why it is a lead Oscar contender.
RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
