CommentsXp Best movie ever!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

namashi_1 One of this year's Foreign Language Nominees at the Academy Awards, 'The Insult' is a heartbreaking story about divide, hate & circumstances. Made with the sharp vision of Writer-Director Ziad Doueiri, this is a film made with a beating heart & a sensitive mind. 'The Insult' Synopsis: After an emotional exchange between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee escalates, the men end up in a court case that gets national attention.'The Insult' is a deep insight into a common insult between two men. One is a Lebanese Christian & the other a Palestinian Refugee, both complexed & equally haunted souls, who stumble upon each other on a regular day & end up offending each other. What follows is a messy court case & the circus around it, which in turn, is a strong portrayal of the cultural differences, the hate that has followed on for legacies & the circumstances caused by people itself, who for the worse, have given in to their emotion of hate.Ziad Doueiri, along-with co-writer Joelle Touma, Writes a Screenplay that captivates & disturbs to equal effect. The motive of its strong Writing is clear: This story is important & it needs to told. The Screenplay is a protest towards hate & the people who are spreading hate now as we speak. Ziad Doueiri's Direction is subtle, but highly commendable. Cinematography & Editing are perfect. Art & Costume Design are decent.Performance-Wise: Kamel El Basha & Adel Karam, both, are excellent. Both the actors portray intensity & genuine emotion, without ever missing a single beat. Rita Hayek does a wonderful as Karam's wife. Others lend remarkable support.On the whole, 'The Insult' is an important story told with sensitivity & command. Don't Miss It.

tarainsa While the Muslim-Christian conflict is a common subject in Lebanese cinema, no film has explored the subject so thoughtfully, and with as much maturity, as this beautifully crafted film. I would give it a 10, except for the miscasting of Rita Hayek, who appears too aware of the camera, and the clearly fake "throaty voice" of the lead, who would have been better just speaking in his normal voice in an otherwise powerful performance. All in all, well done; highly recommended. Moving without being manipulative of the audience's emotions.

cmreichling Brilliant script, visual story-telling, and cast. Adel Karam, Kamel el Basha and Rita Hayek, among others, give outstanding performances. From his debut with West Beirut, Doueiri has proven a great cinema maker. Lila ça dit was another marvelous work. I only lament that his films are so few and far between, no doubt due to funding challenges.

evanston_dad I imagine "The Insult" will inspire strong feelings among certain viewers who have a close connection to the topic, and especially those from parts of the world that feel strongly one way or another about the Palestinian conflict. Most of the rest of us will probably learn a little something about the cultural and religious conflict between Lebanese Christians and Palestinians, something Americans (where I'm from) certainly don't ever learn much about unless we actively seek it out. I very much enjoyed "The Insult" and I appreciated its attempts to be objective about a topic that most people who are directly affected by it can't be. People don't generally like to hear that there is often not a right or wrong side to a given issue but rather a vast middle area of gray, especially not in our current world climate where there's a "with us or against us" mentality about most things. But while I appreciated the film's approach, I couldn't help but feel it had a little bit of an after school special quality about it, a kind of preachy "can't we all just get along" tone that I don't necessarily disagree with but which feels a bit naive and facile in our extremely complicated times. A worthy effort and one that has a lot to recommend it. It just didn't hit it out of the ball park.Grade: A-