THE INSULT (2017)
Directed by Ziad
Doueri
Diaphana Films, 112
minutes, R (which is ridiculous!)
In Arabic and French
with subtitles
★★★★★
The Insult is a
powerful portrait in miniature of the tragedies of tribalism. I’m glad I wasn’t
on the Oscar selection committee, as I don’t know how would have voted for Best
Foreign Film given a choice between this film and A Fantastic Woman. Seldom have I seen such a cogent exploration of
how little it takes to ignite ancient hatred or how those who started the fire
can stand idly by even after they regret striking the first match.
The Insult is set
in a section of Beirut, Lebanon in which many Palestinians reside. Some come
from old families, some are refugees, and some are illegal. Things are looking
up; after a long civil war, things are actually being built and rebuilt in
Beirut. That’s where we come in. A construction crew headed by Yasser (Kamel El
Basha) is rehabbing infrastructure when suddenly he is doused with water
running from a makeshift drainpipe on a terrace above him occupied by Tony
(Abdel Karam) and his pregnant wife Shirine (Rita Hayek). A rebuffed offer to
repair the illegal pipe touches off a tit-for-tat dispute in which harsh words
are uttered. If this sounds like your routine neighborhood squabble, your neck
of the woods isn’t a slice of Beirut where Maronite Christians live cheek by
jowl with Palestinian Muslims. Nor is it one in which Christians like Tony diet
on incendiary broadcasts that make our radio shock jocks seem like Eagle Scouts
and nasties like the PLO and Hezbollah stand ready to declare jihad over spilt
water. And it’s surely not one where a hotheaded swear can be grounds for a libel
suit or a hate crimes countersuit.
The big picture is that Tony and Yasser are caught in a
historical maelstrom. Lebanon gained its independence from France in 1945 and
once enjoyed a reputation as the playground of the Middle East, its beaches and
flourishing network of vices a destination for Euro jetsetters. (Think Cuba
before Castro.) It is blessed by beauty and cursed by geography; its next-door
neighbors are Israel, Syria, and the Golan Heights. For a while the lid
remained on the pot because of an agreement that Christians would control 55%
of government offices, including the presidency (a Maronite) and the Deputy
Prime Minister (Greek Orthodox). The Prime Minister, though, would be a Shi’te
Muslim and his deputy a Sunni. Censuses were avoided like a Biblical/Quranic
plague. In 1975, the pot boiled over and scalded Lebanon with a civil war that
lasted until 1990, sent a million Lebanese into exodus, and left 120,000 dead.
Along the way there were U.S. interventions and withdrawals, an Israeli invasion
to punish Hezbollah, and a Syrian occupation that began in 1976 and ended only
in 2005. Since then, as a character in The
Insult observes, there has been fragile peace, “but no reconciliation.”
Tony and Yasser are the blue-collar microcosm of Lebanon’s
sad history. Tony is an auto mechanic and Yasser a construction worker who is
just as devoted to his wife, Manal (Christine Choueiri) as Tony to Shirine, yet
neither man can take their wife's advice to settle their dispute. There is far
more than pigheaded manhood at stake; each, we discover, were pawns in past
massacres and each bears the scars—Tony through his anger and Yasser his
smoldering stoicism. There is a poignant moment in which a failed
reconciliation ends with Tony driving away, but Yasser sitting in a stalled car.
Tony backs up, lifts the hood, and fixes the car; Tony glares without
conviction and Yasser nods with a Mona Lisa smile upon his lips. Both men
secretly long to end the feud. But is it too late?
Gandhi famously observed that, “an eye for an eye makes the
whole world blind.” If you think this little more than a naïve aphorism, watch The Insult and reconsider. Both
principal actors are superb in this film, but hatred is the unaccredited lead. This
film hit me personally. I came of age during the Vietnam War, which appeared
utter madness and turned me into the pacifist I remain. In my life, I have seen
nothing over which people fight that justifies the horrors that ensue. The Insult drove that home anew.
Ultimately, Gandhi is correct. So too was John F. Kennedy, who observed, "Mankind
must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind." The Insult is about more than a personal
conflict elevated to widespread tragedy; it is a weeping planet’s lament.
Rob Weir
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