OMAR

Omar climbing the wall

OMAR is a 2013 Palestinian thriller directed by Hany Abu-Assad. This film is a present-day film and considering everything that is going on between Palestine and Israel, Omar definitely has international appeal and I can honestly admit that from all the films seen at this year's festival, without a doubt, this one was my personal best. From the very start of the film there is action, and this action continues throughout the film, never having a dull moment.

This powerful thriller centers on the eponymous Palestinian character Omar. Omar is a young baker who frequently climbs the wall separating Israel and the West Bank (Palestine). On the other side, Omar's childhood friends Tarek and Amjad are awaiting him, along with Tarek's sister and Omar's love interest Nadia. 

From left to right : Tarek, Amjad and Omar

The film has elements of Shakespearean tragedy as Omar and Nadia can be easily identified as a modern day Romeo and Juliet. 

Nadia & Omar

In the film, on more than one occasion, it is seen how harshly the Palestinians are treated by the Israelis. After years of being dominated and unfairly treated by the Israelis, the Palestinians are now rebelling and we see this when Omar is humiliated by some Israeli soldiers which causes him to encourage Tarek and Amjad to hasten their planned attack on the Israelis. Later one night, the trio sets out to shoot and kill a Israeli soldier and although Amjad is the one who pulls the trigger, it's as if they all did it. 

Omar being humiliated by the Israeli officers

Omar, Amjad and Tarek spying on the Israelis right before shooting one of the soldiers. 

After killing the soldier, the Israelis are now on the hunt for the persons responsible. Eventually Omar is captured, mercilessly and barbarically beaten, tortured and eventually coerced into making a confession by an Israeli agent named Rami. This puts Omar in a position where he must either co-operate with the enemy and turn in his friends or rot in jail for the rest of his life. This exact situation is what many Palestinians are faced with as thousands of men, women and children are thrown into jail, abused in many ways and left to rot without any sort of proper court trial. The Palestinians are so oppressed by the Israeli government, they are confined by a threatening wall separating them not just physically from each other but mentally and emotionally and the results of this are devastating. The Israeli military are on the prowl night and day and they control and manipulate the lives of the Palestinians. 

Out of desperation and his need to see Nadia, Omar agrees to comply with Agent Rami's request to co-operate with the Israelis and bring in Tarek who is the ring leader of these freedom fighters. Upon release, Omar's loyalty to his friends is questioned but he shows them that he has no intention of doing what the Israelis asked and instead plans an ill-conceived ambush which ends with him back in jail. Omar can't stand being in jail and begs Agent Rami to give him another chance to set things right. After much begging, he is given this chance but with less liberties as before. Being released from jail a second times increases everyone's suspicion that Omar may indeed be a traitor, even Nadia starts questioning him. But while Nadia is questioning Omar's loyalty to his country, Omar is questioning Nadia's faithfulness to him, as he is made to believe that she is hiding secrets from him; all of this puts a lot of strain on their relationship and things begin to fall apart. It is discovered that someone among them is indeed a traitor which was the reason why the ambush had failed. Paranoia and betrayal are significant themes running throughout this film as everyone begins questioning the other. This very paranoia is what inspired director Hany Abu-Assad's idea of this story. While making one of his other films he always felt as if someone was spying on him and this nagging feeling never went away, so he channeled the feeling into his next film, which became Omar. Paranoia is a big issue among the Palestinians and although it is not openly discussed it is always there, as anyone could be a double agent, making trust an enormous issue. 

Tension keeps building in the film as pressure is placed on Omar to deliver Tarek or be thrown back in jail, at the same time Omar is suspecting that Amjad and Nadia are having a secret affair. Eventually Amjad confesses that he got Nadia pregnant. After Omar releases his anger, hurt and disappointment on Amjad's face, he agrees to go with Amjad to tell Tarek the news and promises to help Amjad and Nadia as he still loves and cares for her dearly. When Tarek is told the news about Nadia, he gets into a scuffle with Amjad and Tarek is accidentally shot by Amjad (or was it an accident?) With Tarek now being dead, Omar does not have to return to prison and gives Amjad money to marry Nadia, never wanting to have anything to do with both of them ever again. 

Amjad (left) & Omar (right)

Tarek dies after scuffle with Amjad

Two years pass and Omar is visited by Agent Rami saying that he has another task for Omar and if he refuses he will see to it that Nadia pays. Omar goes to climb the wall for the first time in over two years to go see Amjad but he struggles to climb the wall where before he did it so easily. But you see, this time everything is different, every time Omar tries to climb he falls back down and this scene is so significant as it shows the internal conflicts, torture and endless frustration that Omar is facing after everything that had happened. 

Omar going to climb the wall for the first time in two years

He eventually gets across the wall and goes to Amjad and Nadia's home to meet Amjad but ends up meeting Nadia. Nadia is there with her two children and Omar and her finally talk. She profusely apologizes for doubting his loyalty to his country two years ago...which is strange to me because I would have thought that the first thing she would apologize for would be about being unfaithful to him when they had something so special. But she brought up nothing of the sort, which started to really get my attention. She even questioned why he didn't ask for her hand in marriage and this question in particular really got me thinking. I mean, why would she ask such a question if she knew that it was known to Omar that she was unfaithful and got pregnant for Amjad, while at the same time her and Omar were both planning a life together? It seemed unbelievable and shameful that she would even ask such a question. Then Omar asked if the child was born prematurely and the question appeared to be strange to her, as she didn't seem to understand why he would ask that. Nonetheless her face was completely honest when she answered and said that the child was NOT premature. It was as if Omar had the air knocked out of his body as her response brought with it the realization of what really went on back then and how much his life has been toyed with. 

Omar calls Agent Rami and tells him that he will do as he asked but he wants a gun in return. Rami complies and brings the gun for Omar, Omar asks Rami to show him how to operate the gun and when Rami gives Omar the gun to try, the audience is in no way prepared for what happens next. Omar turns the gun on Rami and with the most frightening anger on his face, he shoots Rami in the face killing him. And just like that the film ends!!!!

Agent Rami (left) teaching Omar (right) how to use the gun

Omar taking his revenge

Well at this point I could not have been more confused about what I just saw. The ending took a completely shocking turn, in no way did I expect this to happen. The film was so open ended that it was not until I was on my way home from watching the film, after really thinking and analysing the movie over and over and over in my head that I came up with what I believe really happened....

So what I'm going to do is attach the trailer and full movie for OMAR here. I invite you all to watch the movie and leave a comment giving me your interpretation of what you think really happened.

I will do a follow up post with my interpretation of what I think took place, so look out for that next ok. But for now, I would love to hear from all of you. So with all of that said, let's begin! =)

Trailer for the film

Full movie!