Omar

Betrayal in myriad forms—from the personal to the national—lies at the core of Hany Abu-Assad's Oscar-nominated film. Adam Bakri stars as the title character, a young Palestinian who suffers constant humiliation under Israeli occupation. Omar and two friends—part of a resistance group—decide to kill a Jewish checkpoint soldier as an act of protest, after which the Israelis quickly retaliate, taking Omar into custody. The soft-spoken agent assigned to interrogate him under torture offers him a deal: Omar will be released in exchange for delivering the actual sniper. Omar agrees to this arrangement but doesn't intend to fulfill it, instead joining another resistance mission—one that goes terribly wrong, making it clear that their group has been betrayed, although it's not evident by whom, or why. Omar convinces his Israeli handler to give him a second chance to cooperate, but his real purpose is to ferret out the traitor, and his investigation reveals that even one's closest friends can make decisions that cause devastating harm. The Israeli agent attempting to manipulate Omar personifies the ruthlessness of a state acting against its humanistic principles in order to suppress what it perceives as a deadly threat. While the political perspective of Omar is undeniably one-sided, it's hard not to be moved by the story. Recommended. (F. Swietek)