The Attack opens on June 28. It is a rich psychological study of one man’s loss of delicate political and social equilibrium, set against the backdrop of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
The long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict serves as the backdrop for the potent Lebanese drama The Attack, which charts the personal journey of a prominent Arab surgeon in the wake of a devastating suicide bombing. Born in the West Bank town of Nablus, Dr. Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman) has lived and worked in Tel Aviv for years. A self-described “secular Muslim,” he is respected by his Jewish colleagues and has a solid and happy marriage to Siham (Reymonde Amsellem), a Palestinian Christian. As the film opens, Jaafari…
Hannah Arendt was one of the 20th Century’s great intellectuals. A refugee from Nazi Germany, the political theorist (a description she preferred over “philosopher”) is perhaps best known for coining the phrase “the banality of evil” to describe Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi functionary responsible for implementing Hitler’s meticulously planned “Final Solution” of the Jews. Covering Eichmann’s 1961 trial in Jerusalem for The New Yorker (she was there just for the opening few weeks), Arendt was confounded by how completely ordinary the defendant appeared to be.…
You may want to slit your wrists after watching the documentary Dirty Wars; at the very least you will hang your head in shame at the egregious missteps made by the United States in its global struggle against terrorism.
War Witch, one of the five recent Oscar nominees for Best Foreign-Language Film, has a reputation as a powerful but almost unbearably grim film. Is it difficult to watch? At times, very much so, but don’t let that dissuade you. A story of human resilience in the face of terrible cruelty and sadness, War Witch is a remarkable film on every level: emotionally raw, profoundly moving, totally engrossing and superbly acted, shot and directed. First-time actress Rachel Mwanza gives an extraordinary performance as Komona, a…
The Gatekeepers is one of the most remarkable and important films ever made about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli director Dror Moreh’s riveting documentary looks at the long-running dispute through the eyes of six individuals whose authoritative views and voices are unimpeachable: the six men who led the nation’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet (akin to America’s FBI), from 1980 to 2011. The significance and power of The Gatekeepers, therefore, lies not only in the message being communicated but also in who the messengers are. While…