The Insult
A clash over a silly plumbing issue leads to the opening of a long trial where Palestinians and Lebanese Christians settle their score. This courtroom drama won the Volpi Cup (best actor: Kamel El Basha) during the Venice Film Festival. Nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
We also screen this film with English subtitles.
One afternoon in the dog days of a Beirut summer, Tony gets into an altercation with Yasser over a broken drainpipe. Tony is a mechanic and a Christian. Yasser is a construction foreman and a Palestinian. When Tony, hard-nosed and hot-headed, refuses to accept Yasser’s half-hearted apology, two bruised male egos begin to swell. Tony utters an unforgiveable insult to Yasser. With a speed neither man could foresee, their personal argument escalates through the neighbourhood and the city to the national stage. The dispute comes to encapsulate the lasting legacy of the Lebanese Civil War – and becomes a lightning rod for people with more power than either man to pursue their own agendas.
THE INSULT is an impeccably made political drama, layered with clever observations on the complex history of the region. But, above all, this is a tale of two men trapped by the past and trying, as best they can, to escape from its grasp in order to move into the future. (source: www.tiff.net)