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Nominated for an Oscar it portrays the Israeli occupation with Israel as the “bad guys” — like watching a World War II film that pitches the Germans as the good guys and the Allies as villains.
A tense thriller about betrayal, trust, and loyalty. Omar (Bakri) is a Palestinian who routinely climbs over the separation wall to ostensibly meet up with his friends, Tarek (Hourani) and Amjad (Bisharat), but he really is looking for an excuse to meet with Tarek’s sister, Nadja (Lubany).
Omar and his friends fancy themselves as resistance fighters, and one night they head out and kill an Israeli soldier. Unfortunately, the next day he gets pinched, and winds up in prison, where he inadvertently admits to knowing something about the killing, giving guards leverage into getting him to collaborate.
Thus begins a dangerous game for Omar as he attempts to either play his Israeli handler, Rami (Zuaiter) or betray his cause. The choices that Omar and his friends make, the reasons they make them, and how they live out their lives is horrifying, stressful, and so totally wrong on so many levels that it honestly hurts to watch this film, even though it really needs to be watched.
The movie is In Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles.
The Avon Theater is located at 272 Bedford Street, Stamford.
"Omar" is not rated and runs through March 8. It stars Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Iyad Hoorani , Samer Bisharat and Waleed Zuaiter and was directed by Hany Abu-Assad.
Norwalk resident Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing films for some 30 years. During that time, his movie reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular articles and movie reviews through his website.
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