THE INSULT (aka L'INSULTE) (ARABIC/FRENCH) (2017)

The wounds of fire may heal and might even disappear with time; But, the burns caused by vicious words would never heal !!

This is the wisdom shared to the world by the ancient Tamil poet sage Thiruvalluvar in one of his 1330 Kurals (couplets) which is part of Thirukkural, an ancient classic Tamil text which is a monumental work on ethics and morality.

In The Insult, which is set in modern Beirut, Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri explores this very tenet through the events involving two principal characters - Toni Hanna (Adel Karam), a Lebanese Christian and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee. Toni is an automobile mechanic and Yasser Salameh (Kamel El Basha), is a foreman of a construction crew working in Toni's neighbourhood. Toni is also an ardent supporter of the Christian party and is hot-headed.  Yasser, on the other hand is reticent, and being a refugee, has an indeterminate legal status despite having lived in Beirut for several years. A faulty drain pipe overhanging from Toni's balcony triggers the initial confrontation and an exchange of insults. This is followed by vehement demands for apology from the other side and soon escalates to a forceful punch to the gut and ultimately, lands the duo in two courtroom battles. The movie captures the unfolding courtroom battles between the two individuals over this minor tussle as it steadily escalates and threatens to engulf the entire nation in turmoil.

From the initial seemingly trivial squabble to the courtroom combats, the movie takes the viewers on a roller coaster ride which includes resurfacing of latent wounds which never heal, traumatic revelations on the realities which were otherwise suppressed, a civil war which despite being over long ago seems to have transcended from the physical realm to the mind space of the population where it is still actively fought on a daily basis, the media melee surrounding the case which brings a fragile peace to the brink; and the effect of these unintended escalations on Toni and Yasser as they contemplate their lives, their painful past and prejudices that are deeply embedded therein which define their grim present as well as their possible next steps. Could there be a sense of hope or the long and deep shadows from their past are set to snuff out all light from their present as well as future ? Seen from another perspective, is this just a case of a personal conflict exploding to ensnare an entire nation or is it a chronic national/regional conflict which has percolated down to infect the everyday affairs of these persons ?

Home to one of the earliest human civilisations, Lebanon, is a small state in the Middle East which is nestled between Mediterranean sea to its west and Syria and Israel on the other directions. Lebanon, which had remained largely peaceful, prosperous and progressive, is unique in the largely Arab neighbourhood by virtue of its demographics consisting of almost equal number of Christian and Muslim citizens. The vexed political situation of the larger region, that has fanned the flames of hatred over the decades, has resulted in deep fissures along ethnic as well as religious lines. Over time, these have evolved in deep seated insecurities, mutual sense of victimhood and anger among all communities. When such groups are almost equally strong, as in the case of Lebanon, this creates a scenario of perfect storm. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in a bloody civil war which spanned from 1975-1990 and consumed scores of its citizenry. Despite the end of the civil war, tensions remain and erupts in the form of ugly violence from time to time as disparate political groups seek to gain mileage by adding fuel to the deceptive, yet highly inflammable embers. The influx of refugees from neighbours in turmoil has provided further feedstock to this cauldron.

Despite being set in Lebanon with protagonists from particular communities, the film has a universal appeal as it explores multiple elements like the politics of opportunism which feed on prejudice & hatred, jingoistic appeals, deep-seated resentments, macho masculine pride as well as media madness which are seeking to alter the essence of human condition in these turbid times. The film is also an exploration on the how common sense could become a casualty when vexed vanities of exaggerated male egos glued to long-held grudges take the center stage. It also depicts the difficulties in de-escalation once the tinderbox is set alight as even seemingly simple conflicts could quickly spiral out of control with no solutions in sight.

Director Ziad Doueiri deserves credit for fashioning an engaging and powerful narrative which does not take sides and keeps the viewer engrossed in the proceedings till the very end. Special praise is due for the way he stages the courtroom battles where the protagonists as well as their attorneys land punches and counter-punches. While he may not be subtle and is also guilty of succumbing to cliches, his narrative is nevertheless energetic and aided by the excellent performances from entire cast which makes even the age old cliches work. With this fabulous feature, he acquits himself as a director to watch out in the future. 

The Insult was Lebanon's official submission in 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and was part of the final shortlist. It has been widely praised across multiple film festivals where it has won many accolades including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor (Kamel El Basha) in the Venice International Film Festival. It was also the opening movie of the recently concluded IFFK-2017.

A RIVETING WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5

THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT (aka E TOUT NOUVEAU TESTAMENT) (FRENCH) (2015)

Who wouldn't want to see God..? The Almighty who is the Creator of all of us and everything around, above and below us - including the big and small miseries that engulf us on an everyday basis. While God is generally conceived as an epitome of love, grace and all things wonderful, it is also true that most, if not all of us, on our bad days, would've cursed this very entity for a sadistic streak that piles on the pain on us, the hapless victims.

This delightful movie imagines God (Benoît Poelvoorde) to be a nerdy, booze addled and perennially grumpy middle aged guy, living in Brussels, in an high rise apartment which has no doors to the outside world,  with his submissive wife (Yolande Moreau) and young daughter. He terrorises his meek wife to such an extent that she hardly ever opens her mouth in his presence and shivers whenever his temper escalates which happens quite frequently. He spends most of his time behind closed doors working at his computer through which he controls the fate of everyone on earth. He finds great amusement in concocting ever new modes of misery to torment the mortals on Earth ranging from a falling toast landing on the wrong side to catastrophes which claim numerous lives. 

His daughter, Ea (an endearing Pili Groyne), though, is mischievous and is keen to explore the world outside. She considers her dad as a sadistic boor and hates him for shutting her out of the rest of the world and for his ruthless streak of seeking pleasure by heaping pain on hapless human beings. Egged on by her long lost elder brother JC (Jesus Christ, of course), Ea breaks out of her home. But, before leaving home, she hacks into her dad's computer system and resets the password, thereby locking him out of it. She also reveals the date of death to all the residents of the planet through a celestial SMS which sets off a series of bizarre repercussions across the globe.

After escaping from home, she follows the advice of her elder brother JC and sets out to find six new apostles who would assist her in writing a brand new testament for humanity. She chooses an assorted bunch of persons to be her apostles including a lonely beauty who has lost her arm in a freak accident, a middle aged sex maniac, a corporate worker, a rich and lonely old woman and a young boy diagnosed with terminal illness along with a homeless old beggar who is her designated scribe. The rest of the movie narrates the events of Ea's encounters with this assorted bunch of individuals and creation of a brand new testament even as she is hounded by her dad who wants to regain access to his celestial computer system. 

Director Jaco Van Dormael has created a very imaginative and highly irreverent satire which is playful to the extent of being blasphemous. It is quintessentially a feel good feature which is laced with several laugh-out-loud moments including those involving the fate of the God, in hot pursuit of Ea, getting a taste of his own medicine which are especially hilarious. Besides the loads of fun, there is also a distinct feminist undercurrent that runs through the movie which is perfectly cast and well executed.

A co-production between Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, this movie is a manifest testimonial to the levels of artistic freedom prevalent in these countries which have collaborated to produce a movie with such irreverence to contemporary religious beliefs. A movie of this nature is simply unimaginable in most parts of the world which is sinking under a surge of religious bigotry and intolerance. This movie has won many accolades at multiple film festivals across the globe and was also highly appreciated in the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES), 2016. 

Check out this lesser known gem and am sure that you would find yourself laughing out loud and grinning till its entire length. A word of caution though to those of you who are highly conservative and may regard any kind of pun/satire on religious beliefs as highly objectionable - If you are one, then you would do well to skip this flick. 

An EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5

INCENDIES (FRENCH) (2010)

While religions all over the world overtly profess a language of love and offer a path to salvation, it is not uncommon to find their teachings hijacked by fanatics and zealots who spew hatred and incite teeming followers in the name of God to commit ungodly acts. Many a war have been waged and scores of precious lives lost, maimed and scarred in the name of religion which preach a blind hatred of others. This is a story of a society and in particular, a family, which had to bear the brunt of a civil war spawn from such mindless religious hatred.  

Jeanne and Simon, twin siblings in Canada, are taken by surprise when their reticent mother dies leaving a strange will which requires to deliver two letters from their mother. Jeanne is to deliver a letter to her father whom they thought had died long ago while Simon is to deliver another letter to a brother whom they were unaware of. Simon is clearly reluctant as he considers the demands in the will as an unreasonable, if not, a totally irrational request by their mother whom he believed was demented. Jeanne, however, sets out on a journey to discover her mother's past and to find out her father and brother.

Jeanne's journey is interwoven with a parallel narrative arc which depicts the story of their mother, Nawal, in her youth in an unnamed Middle East nation (probably Lebanon) with simmering tension between the its Muslim and ruling Christian populace. Nawal, a Christian, falls in love with a Muslim from a refugee camp. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she tries to flee with her lover. However, Nawal's brothers confront them and kill her lover in the name of family's honour. Nawal's grandmother saves her from her brothers' wrath for bringing dishonour to their religion and clan. Nawal's grandmother helps her to keep her pregnancy secret and promises to assist Nawal in having the baby under the condition that Nawal would send it to an orphanage upon delivery and leave to a distant city for her studies. Nawal fulfills her condition and leaves her village to pursue higher studies in a university even as the newborn which is tattooed by her grandmother is handed over to an orphanage. At the university, Nawal is an activist during her studies and when the threat of civil war looms large, she forsakes her studies to look for her son to take him to safety before the onset of full blown war. 

The rest of the movie oscillates between these two parallel narratives of past and the present, separated in time by a few decades - Nawal quest for her son and Jeanne's quest to unravel her mother's past. Nawal's search for her lost son takes her ever so deeper into the heart of an unfolding dark civil war, where her life is tossed around by the belligerent forces like a helpless vessel in a terrible storm. Jeanne's search, on the other hand, reveals her mother's troubled past and the traumas she had to undergo before she left her strife-torn native for Canada. These two intertwining strands culminate in an exceptional, SHOCKING and INTENSE revelation in the finale. Playing the reticent, yet resilient and psychologically complex character of Nawal, Lubna Hazabal as Nawal provides the stand out performance which is compelling even in her intense silences. The rest of the cast consisting Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin playing Jeanne, Maxim Gaudette playing the reluctant Simon as well as Rémy Girard playing the notary Maître Lebel, Nawal's former employer and the holder of the will who guides the twins in their quest provide competent performances.

Canadian director Dennis Villeneuve helms this multi-layered movie (adapted from a popular play by Wajdi Mouawad known for its poetic flourishes) with the assurance of masterly auteur with potent visuals, sharp writing and a deliberate pace that keeps the viewer glued to every detail. Villeneuve's brilliance is manifest in the manner in which he has crafted an ambitious non-linear narrative that transcends multiple genres of drama, road movie, thriller and anti-war movie. 

Overall, this stirring movie is an exceptional ode to the triumph of kinship, togetherness and love which trump over the seemingly invincible forces of hatred. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Movie for the 83rd Academy Awards (2011) has also received acclaim in several international film festivals. 

A MUST WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5

THE PAST (aka LE PASSE) (FRENCH/PERSIAN) (2013)

In "The Past", his French language debut, noted Iranian director Asghar Farhadi presents an intense family drama set in Paris. A divorce is at the heart of this movie as in, his 2011 movie, A Separation, which won Iran's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Movie.

Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) is an Iranian who comes to Paris to settle his divorce with Marie, a French pharmacist. Marie (Bernice Bejo, from The Artist) and Ahmad have been separated for four years.  Soon after his arrival, Marie informs Ahmad of her plans to marry Samir (Tahir Rahim), an Arab laundromat owner and that they are also expecting a child. Marie has two daughters from an earlier marriage - Lucie, a sullen teenager and the younger Lea. Samir has a wife who is in coma after an attempted suicide and a young son, Fouad. After the hospitalisation of his wife, Samir and Fouad have moved in with Marie. While the young Lea sees a similar-aged playmate in Fouad, Lucie cold shoulders Samir and hates her mother for rushing into a marriage with him. Lucie, however, shares a warmer relationship with Ahmad, her earlier stepfather. Ahmad finds himself playing the mediator between various players and in the process, gradually unravels a secret that puts all the players on the brink.

Farhadi presents an intricately woven drama and draws the viewers ever so deep into the unfolding events. His characters - each with their deep flaws, guilt, vulnerabilities, doubts and emotional baggage from their past - are very real in their attempts to grapple with their situations. Their struggle to disentangle their present and construct a clear future is clouded by the events from their past which threaten to unravel their plans. Are they to permanently remain the prisoners of their past and mistakes committed therein ? Or, can they find a way to disentangle their present and forge new and happier ties that they seek ? Farhadi explores these questions and more in this intricately constructed narrative structured as a socio-emotional thriller. 
Farhadi shows a keen eye in his attention to details (as in the case of Marie's house where most of the drama unfolds across several rooms) and brilliance in his intelligent metaphors which serve as subtle markers to the future events including the initial meeting of Marie and Ahmad across a glass wall at the airport, their clumsy attempt to back their car from parking as well as the manner of title appearing on the windscreen of the car that is wiped away or even in Ahmad agreeing to clear up the mess of spilt paint.

The film benefits a great deal from the fact that Farhadi employs a solid cast that is strikingly beautiful and have enough acting chops for playing these complex characters and they have put in remarkable performances which makes the drama connect to the viewers. Ali Mosaffa is exceptional as the Ahmad, a man trying find some calm after finding himself unsuspectingly drawn into the middle of a raging storm of relationships of his estranged family and Tahir Rahim plays the brooding Samir with an assured subtlety. However, it is Bernice Bejo who packs in a powerful performance as the enigmatic and the fierce Marie whose present is caught between her past grievances and the future questions. Her performance has already received a well deserved Best Actress award at the Cannes last year. Farhadi also draws wonderful performances from his younger cast, especially Pauline Burlet who plays an angry, yet helpless Lucie who is disenchanted with the situation she finds herself in and Elyes Aguis  as Fouad who is torn between the comatose mother he loves and mother imposed upon him.

The Past is an engaging family drama which underscores the dynamics of dysfunctional families and their effects on the children who are often ignored in the confrontations between the adults of the family. With The Past, Asghar Farhadi has reinforced his position as a master in presenting intricately crafted human dramas populated by nuanced, real characters which have universal appeal. Kudos !!

A MUST WATCH !! 

CACHÉ (HIDDEN) (FRENCH) (2005)

In Caché, a sparkling masterpiece, from the noted Austrian auteur, Michael Haneke, we are presented with a suspense thriller which makes a radical departure from the movies of the genre.

Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil), a popular television show host lives with his wife Anne (Juliet Binoche) who works with a publisher and a school going teenager son, Pierrot. The apparently prosperous family lives in a quiet Paris neighbourhood. The seemingly peaceful flow of their lives is disturbed and the simmering tensions that flow beneath their settled lives are exposed with the arrival of a series of mysterious videos which indicate that they and their house are being watched. The fact that videos do not contain any threats or demands confounds them further. Some of the videos are also accompanied by crayon drawings with splashes of bright red emanating from a caricature figures. When Georges and Anne approach the police to help them solve this disturbing mystery, they find the police are not in a position to help in the absence of any threats or demands. Despite their helplessness and their growing unease at these videos, the couple continue with their lives in their professional and social spheres, attempting to brush these disquieting developments under the carpet of normal living. 

The mystery deepens with the arrival of further videos - one showing the house where Georges was raised and another which leads to the door of an apartment in a poor neighbourhood. Georges tracks down the apartment complex and knocks on the door to come face to face with a middle aged Arab man, Majid, whom he had last met when he was six. Majid seems happy to see Georges after several years. However,when he is confronted by Georges about the videos and drawings, Majid, positively denies sending any such videos. A befuddled and unconvinced Georges, leaves after threatening Majid of serious consequences, if he contacts him in future. However, a brooding Georges conceals the entire episode from Anne. Another video arrives - this time, showing the entire episode involving Georges and Majid at the apartment, including Georges' threats to Majid. The disquieting videos opens up the hitherto unacknowledged fissured in the seemingly stable relationship of  Georges and Anne, especially, when Anne senses that Georges may have some clues about the videos which he declines from sharing with her. Gradually, their once, structured and serene life starts falling apart with Georges' growing guilt, Anne's swelling suspicion and Pierrot's sullen irreverence to them.

Was it Majid who actually sent the tapes ? If so, why ? Did anything happen between them when Georges was six and could such a thing be still alive in their minds causing Majid to seek revenge and Georges to feel guilty ? Or, if Majid was innocent, then who had sent those videos ? And, for what reason ? While Georges appears to have some secret(s), does Anne and Pierrot have their own secrets ? Is there a large subtext/context to the happenings confounding the Laurents family ? 

These and several other questions rise like wild mushrooms in the minds of the viewer and multiply with the unfolding events. Haneke does not attempt to answer all the questions in the movie, though there are indications several of these are acknowledged. Consequently, the movie and its unanswered questions continue to gnaw in the mind space of the viewers long after they have finished watching Caché.   

We are familiar with the genre of suspense thrillers which employ the technique of presenting the viewer with some red herrings strewn along the narrative and a pacy unfolding of the mystery which is embellished with crisp editing, racy score and action set pieces. Caché shuns all such formulaic ingredients to merely cast a keen, observant eye on the happenings and does not bother to find closure to all issues at hand. 

This is a meticulously crafted movie, which despite being largely devoid of any background score, hooks the viewers from the very first frame, engages them in an emotionally immersive experience with the leads as they go through the ordeal and continues to hold an unyielding grip over them, till the very final frame. The performances of the entire cast and especially, Daniel Auteuil and Juliet Binoche are first rate and accentuate the movie, as in the scene where they have an argument, after the arrival of the video which shows Georges threatening Majid, which shows a growing discomfort between which is almost palpable. 

Never have I seen an opening scene and a closing scene which are so pregnant with impact as in this movie. Both these scenes, spanning well over a minute and accompanied by the credits, have been captured with stationary cameras which appear to be precisely placed. There is no accompanying background score or editing to spice up the proceedings except the natural sounds. Yet, they have a beguiling beauty and they capture important subtexts that anchor the movie. Haneke's brilliance shines through in this final scene where he almost buries the answer to a key question almost in open sight and it is as if he challenges the viewer to uncover it.

Caché is a multi-layered movie and works on several planes. At the surface level which is most apparent, it is a suspense thriller, where we keep constantly guessing on the identity of the person sending the disturbing videos and diagrams as well as the motive(s) of such person. At another level, it also presents us with a set of characters, each of whom have secrets that continue to haunt them deep below their cultivated superficial stability. At yet another level, the events unfolding in the lives of the Laurent family and their reaction to it hold subtle pointers to an infamous episode in the French history called Paris massacre of 1961 (aka la nuit noire), when on October 17, 1961, hundreds of Algerian protesters, protesting France's colonial rule over Algeria, were thrashed and killed by the French Police. It throws the spotlight on the repression of the memories of the massacre from the collective conscious of the nation which is guilty of such an inhuman act. At a deeper level, the movie is also an allegorical reference to the cause-effect relation between historical oppression of imperialism and the eventual backlash of violence and terror that seeks to threaten the apparent prosperity and peaceful existence of the erstwhile imperialists. And, in the tradition of the best of movies, it shuns from preaching or taking sides and merely holds a mirror that makes the viewer to look deep within themselves and to draw their own conclusions.

Caché won 3 award at Cannes Film festival in 2005 where it premiered, including Best Director and Critics Award for the Best Film  and went on to collect many more well deserved awards internationally. This is a rare movie that is minutely crafted to perfection to a level where it is almost transcendental such that it successfully works at both a micro level as well as the macro level - at the micro level, where it is a sparse, dark, taut and unnerving thriller and at the macro level, where it is an effective political allegory on insensitive acts of oppression, a concerted repression from the collective memory of the citizenry of a nation and its resultant backlash of impending violence and terror which could upend the carefully constructed cocoons that shelters the haves from the have-nots.

A MASTERPIECE ! A MUST WATCH !!

POINT BLANK (A BOUT POURTANT) (FRENCH)

A racy thriller.. Sucks you in the very first frame & doesn't let go till the final moments of it's crisp running length clocking under less than 90 minutes.

These European thrillers so refreshing unlike the CGI pumped Hollywood cousins...

An entertaining watch !

P.S. - Check out the lead who looks like a chubby version of Saif !