Review of The Attack (2012) by Brian K — 22 Jul 2013

Just before Dr. Amin Jaafari(Ali Suliman) is set to receive a prestigious lifetime award in Tel Aviv, he gets a brief a phone call from his wife Siham(Reymond Amsalem) who is away visiting relatives. As he points out in the acceptance speech, he is the first Arab to receive such an award. The following day, like many of his colleagues, he tends to the wounds of those injured in a suicide bomb, including one dissatisfied customer. Later, he gets a call in the middle of the night which is never a good sign and in this case involves going to the hospital to identify his wife's remains who is now thought to be the suicide bomber of the previous day, as Moshe(Uri Gavriel) starts in with the intense questioning.

"The Attack" is a powerful, heartbreaking and provocative neo-noir that succeeds on both a psychological and a political level. First and foremost, it is a portrait of a man going through the five stages of grief while wondering how much he really knew the love of his life. As such, the nature of identity is explored on both sides of the wall that now separates Israel and the Occupied Territories and which is never as simple as many people there would like to believe. All of which is seen through the eyes of somebody with a unique perspective on the ongoing tragedy and who in the end owes nobody anything.