The Attack

The Attack, the newest film from director Ziad Doueiri is brilliant, wonderful, and heartbreaking. In this movie, there are no alternate realities, this film, about dualities, hatred, love, and lies is steeped in truth, and soaked in fear. It's a great story that asks the question, do you really, truly know someone, or do you just think or hope you do? It's because of this that I give The Attack three and a half buckets of Killer Korn.






Straight talk, I have a thing for Palestine-Israeli conflict films, much in the same way I have a thing for IRA-England conflict films. Maybe it's that I understand their genesis and can respect the dislike and mistrust the combatants have for each other, or maybe I just like seeing conflict  between other peoples as a kind of respite from dealing with the ones that take place here at home. I don't know honestly, but what I do know is that writer/director Ziad Doueiri delivers a poignant film and a far different take on the suicide bombing insanity than I have ever seen. When I saw the trailer I to myself that World War Z would be first but then I have to see The Attack, and that was the perfect order. Where WWZ's story was stupid at best, The Attack possessed an amazing story of love, friendship, loyalty, distrust, and betrayal. The trailer does mislead, but that's an easily forgivable sin because once the movie starts rolling, you get caught up in a relationship that for all intents and purposes is a genuine one, based on love and honesty. Then as we get deeper into it we come to find out that this is most certainly not the case.

Amin Jaafari, played brilliantly by the talented Ali Suliman is a prominent Arab surgeon who lives in Tel Aviv. He is highly respected, admired, and loved by all who know him. He is married to the lovely Siham Jaafari, played by the seductive Reymond Amsalem. She is also an Arab but neither Amin or Siham are practicing Muslims, Amin seems non-religious and Siham is a Christian. The movie starts off with a tender and loving goodbye between the couple.

"Amin...I love you so much," Siham says.
"The why are you crying?" Amin asks.
"I'm crying because every time I say goodbye to you, a part of me dies. You think I'm silly, don't you?" she asks
"Yes, but don't change, don't ever change." he answers.

The very next scene, we see Amin sitting in a crowded auditorium and he receives a phone call. He tells the person he can't talk right now and that he'll call them back and hangs up. He then receives an award for medicine that has never been presented to an Arab doctor in it's 41 year history, he is the first and he is most gracious in his speech. The following day, while Amin is having lunch with his fellow doctors, there's an explosion in the distance and the once serene hospital is suddenly a madhouse full of injured people and crying children.

After saving lives and helping people, Amin goes home only to be called back to the hospital, he is needed to identify a body. The Shin Bet (the Israeli FBI) believes it to be the body of Amin's wife, Siham. Amin knows it cannot possibly be her since he just said goodbye to her two days ago and saw her board a bus to go see her father. Down in the morgue, half a body is wheeled out in front of him and when he pulls back the sheet, it is his worse nightmare come true. The lifeless face staring back at him is his Siham. It's then that this movies intensity gets ratcheted up. The police detain him, lock him, question him, and psychologically torture him because they don't believe that he knew nothing of what his wife of ten plus years was planning. When he is eventually released, Amin becomes a man wracked with grief and countless questions. He misses the love of his life and refuses to believe that not only could she be a suicide bomber but that she would never purposefully hurt innocent children. He believes the bomb was already there, probably under her table which is why her wounds would suggest she was the possible suspect. All that changes when he reads a letter Siham sent him a day before the attack, it's that letter that changes everything.

Adapted from the international best selling novel of the same name by Yasmina Khadra, Ziad Doueiri and Joelle Touma crafted a smart, taut screenplay that not only entertains but educates as well. So much so that I am now interested in reading the book, to see if the movie was true to the source material. Shot by cinematographer Tommaso Fiorilli, The Attack is a mixture of shaky hand held cameras blended with a heavy does of steady-cam shots, the rural countryside of Palestine contrasts perfectly with the metropolitan bustle of Tel Aviv. It was nicely done, and what else was done well was the score by acclaimed composer Eric Neveux. The music was heartbreakingly poignant and the perfect accompaniment to the images on the screen. It was reminiscent of the music by Explosions In The Sky. If you know there music then you know the sound, lazy guitar playing beautiful and haunting melodies. I really don't think anyone could have done any better, honestly. The Attack ends as it begins, with the goodbye, only this time it's reversed with Amin crying and saying goodbye, as he lets his wife go telling her every time he does a piece of him dies. The Attack is an amazing movie and I highly recommend it, it will teach you something new, I guarantee it. See it, and I'll see you at the theater.