A WAR OF WORDS
The Insult a beautifully plotted parable with particular relevance to current events
Here’s a rare disclaimer for a movie: Not “based on a true story” or “no bears were harmed,” but that the views “do not reflect the official policy or position of the Lebanese government.” And this from the country’s official foreign-language Oscar submission, now a nominee!
Then again, the film deals with some pretty incendiary stuff. Tony (Adel Karam), a militant Christian living in Beirut, gets angry when some local workers
fix his balcony drainpipe without his permission, so he smashes the repair. The foreman Yasser (Kamel El Basha) calls him a rude name. Tony wants an apology. Yasser won’t give him one.
Wars have probably been started over smaller disagreements, which is precisely the point being made by director and co-writer Ziad Doueiri. Yasser’s wife calmly asks her husband which came first, the repair or the insult, but he ignores the question. Tony’s wife accepts a box of chocolates from the foreman’s boss, but Tony brings it back. Would that these women would be allowed to settle things.
Instead, Tony ups the ante with an ethnic insult. (Yasser is Palestinian.) He gets a punch in the gut in response. Hate crime, or unprovoked physical attack? Soon the two are in court, each with a lawyer who seems to care more about restitution than even the aggrieved parties do.
It’s a beautifully plotted parable, and you can feel the director wrestling with the notion of making it into a comedy; there’s a hilarious moment where Tony and Yasser are leaving the courthouse and have to politely jostle around each other to get into their cars. Also, Tony does a double take when he hears Yasser testify that German goods are better than Chinese ones. Is the enemy of my consumer enemy my friend?
But for the most part the script stays serious, not least when Tony’s pregnant wife goes into early labour, perhaps due to the stress of the situation. And as the litigation moves to an appeals court and the media starts to take an interest, we learn that each man has more than a garden-variety hatred of the other’s religion. Recall that Lebanon was embroiled in a civil war from 1975 to 1990, the legacy of which continues to simmer.
Doueiri packs a few too many twists into his storyline — a revelation about a connection between Tony’s lawyer and Yasser’s seems especially unnecessary — but the overall arc of the film is close to perfect. Yasser and Tony are close enough in age and socioeconomic status that there’s little for each to dislike about the other except the fact that the other dislikes him.
But Yasser is too proud to suffer the humility of apologizing, and Tony takes the Christ out of Christianity by refusing to turn the other cheek: “We don’t solve this thing by pretending to love each other,” he huffs at one point.
It’s a shame that Lebanon has chosen to so publicly distance itself from such a thoughtful film. There is much that individuals and even world leaders can learn from The Insult. Jimmy Carter worked on peace frameworks at Camp David, while Donald Trump boasts of an “ultimate deal” for Mideast harmony. But clearly both are looking in the wrong place. It all comes down to a drainpipe.