"L'insulte" or "The Insult" is a Libanese 110-minute movie that premiered back in 2017 already. Writer and director is Ziad Doueiri (his close connection with Tarantino surprised me and was not visible in this film in my opinion) and this is without a doubt his biggest success so far as the film did not only reach a great deal of awards recognition, but even made it to the Oscars, a bit surprisingly for sure as it got in over the Golden-Globe winning entry from my country Germany. I think the Academy just really liked the subject. It's Israel vs. Palestine again and actually this controversial subject has become a bit forgotten, maybe because how long it has been going on, maybe also because other crisis areas haven take over from this conflict. This is basically about the conflict of two men and how a relatively harmless argument results in hate speech between them, violence and eventually a courtroom trial. They somewhat symbolize their origins and the conflict between these two areas there you could say. One problem I had with the film is that it felt like it really needed quite a while to get going and become interesting. Early on when it was unclear who the protagonists are and what it is all about, I found it really slow and not too captivating. But it gets better the moment of the attack that it is all about luckily. And from that moment on it becomes a decent courtroom drama, which may honestly not be considerably above stuff like L&O tension and plot-wise, Boston Legal etc., but the subject elevates the material you could say. There are other weaknesses too I must say. The older lawyer was clearly intended way more significant than he turned out to be. I also did not like the way he went over the top. But the script did not do him any favors in my opinion either. The rushed-in father-daughter conflict felt very uninspired and certainly not elaborated on properly. His big scene when he speaks about the violence that his client's family had to face in the place where he was born was also not half as effective as it could have been and it was literally destroyed before already with the cringeworthy scene where you would ask yourself why this lawyer is so harsh on his own man. So yeah, there are definitely major issues with the courtroom scene and it could have been a far better frilm from that perspective. In fact, the first rather brief courtroom negotiation I did like more and it was a solid introduction to the legal aspect of this movie. Instead, the film lived more off the scenes between the two main characters, especially in the second half of the film, when they are about to search for a compromise or when they talk to each other and the apology is finally issued and even his dignity is somewhat restored with the other character provoking him into hitting him, so they are equal. Actually the guy who got hit first, seemed like a brute early on and the depth he gets as the film moves on (still less depth than the other guy obviously) felt a bit surprising in my opinion. Overall, a solid film, needs a little while to catch your interest, but if you stay calm and patient, then it becomes a rewarding watch. No greatness though and the Oscar nomination may have been a bit too much. Still go see it, the two leads make it worth it.
Review of The Insult
