Omar (Hany Abu-Assad, 2013 ): Palestine, Belgium

Reviewed by Vera-Luana Dubach. Viewed at the Metro 4, Santa Barbara.

The film ,Omar a psychological thriller, got a Academy Award Nominee for best foreign language film. The themes of the movie are love, friendship, Israel versus Palestine, social injustice and trust.

It’s a story about Omar a Palestine young baker who lives right next to the wall which separate Israel and Palestine. Omar climbs regularly over the wall to visit his two best friends and Nadia. Nadia is the sister of one of his best friend. Omar and Nadia fall in love but they can’t show it in public.

The three friends decided to kill an Israeli soldier as a sign of rebelling. The police finds Omar and put him in Jail. After a while they give him the choice to either stay in prison for the rest of his life or to be an undercover informant and rat his friends but in the other hand be able to marry Nadia and have free life. Omar is in a dilemma.

The acting and the locations are very realistic. The story always has it’s unexpected twists and never gets boring.