Monday, September 16, 2013

TIFF 2013: Omar (Fair)

Omar is perhaps the 4th or 5th film I've seen set in the Palestinian territories, and like all the others, the security wall plays a prominent role. The title character, played by Adam Bakri, managed to climb up and over the barrier to visit his friend Tarek (Iyad Hoorani), and perhaps more importantly his sister Nadia (Leem Lubany), usually without incident. Tarek is planning action against the Israelis, and Omar joins in, but he ends up being arrested and tortured. The Israelis want him to inform on his friends, and eventually release him believing he will help them. Omar`s main interest seems to be marrying Nadia, and while he certainly hates the Israelis and resents their intrusions into his land and his life, it wasn't clear to me the extent to which he really wanted to participate in action against them.

The basic story is sound, with its focus on the theme of deceit, and the performances good, but overall I found the pace a little slow. Maybe I was just a little wiped out after 17 films, but this one didn't really grab me.

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