‘The Insult’ or ‘قضية رقم ٢٣’ is a Lebanese drama film directed by Ziad Doueiri. The film takes place in the Beirut of nowadays and talks about an insult that blows out of proportions between a Lebanese Christian and Palestinian Refugee. This incident quickly turns into an explosive trial and ends up dividing the two communities.
I absolutely loved this film, it’s probably one of the best films I’ve watched this year and I am so happy that it is a Lebanese film!
As usual, I am going to start this review with the story: I think the story was so well-written, developed and constructed. The plot builds up very well and very logically, the dialogues are not cheesy, in the contrary, they are very well-written and reflect well the Lebanese society [mixing Arabic and French and the way they talk]. In general, the film reflects well the Lebanese society [the customs, the attitude of people and so forth…] and says a lot about the male stubbornness. Furthermore, the film carries a deep political message, a message of acceptance and peace, a message that I think all Lebanese [and people in general] should hear.
One of the things that I loved in this film is that Ziad Doueiri showed the good and bad side of both parties so we literally sympathized with both communities. I liked the fact that the director did not take a side [maybe he did, but I personally didn’t feel that]. Moreover, I loved the characters; they are so well-developed, are very believable and feel very human with flaws and qualities, they are not flat whatsoever [therefore you can easily relate to them, especially if you are lebanese]
The second thing that I loved [after the story] is the acting, it is just amazing and strong: the actors/actresses are very believable, their acting is so genuine and they are ‘naked’, means they are not self-conscious and we get to see the ugly side of them. Moreover, I was impressed by the performance of ‘Adel Karam’, I am not used to seeing him act in an intense and dramatic film, the cast is really on point.
The third thing that I loved is the soundtrack; it really sets well the mood of the film and heightens the emotions of the film.
During the whole film, I felt so emotional and was at the edge of my seat. I really advice you to watch this film as it really generates strong emotions, tells a great story, was very well-filmed and has a high production value. And if you don’t understand arabic, don’t worry there are English subtitles so there are no reasons for you to not to watch it!!!!!!!!
That’s it for this review. If you found this post to be interesting, don’t forget to give it a ‘like’ and to follow my blog.
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Sounds good. Have seen some fantastic middle eastern films. Great senses of humour…. always reminds that all people everywhere share the spirituality of humour.
Yess this movie has a good sense of humour even though it’s a drama!! Thanks for passing by xx
Great to know! My fiancé is Lebanese, so I know he will want to see this movie. Wonderful review 👏🏼
Omg that’s amazing!!! Thank you, i hope you get to watch it
Wow, this sounds brilliant . . . and like a sadly common issue when you mix people with different cultures. Things can so easily get misconstrued or accidentally insulting xx
Very true but Ziad did it with perfection
It’s really amazing! Ziad Doueiri is one the best Lebanese Director and writers. The writing part in this movie [and the message] is just brilliant. He wrote this movie with his wife joelle who is also a great writer. You can see so much of Ziad Doueiri in this movie. When he was a kid he used to live in the western part of beirut during the war, and he used to regard christians as the “enemy” [shows you how society influences people] and he was more on the Palestinian side. When he grew up he realized the “dirtiness Of politics” and how it can separate people in the name of “religion” and started making movies about it. He clearly stated in the movie that this was “بداية النظر الى الطرف الآخر” and showed us that there are no really “angels & demons” in war. In war, everyone suffers and no has the right to monopolize “suffering”.
And i’m with you on all the points you discussed up there.
Wow that’s amazing!! I didnt know that about Ziad, thank you for sharing!! His movies are also so great with deep political messages, i love him for that. He just knows how to do movies like these!!
I heard about the movie, did not see it though. Great review and non biased comments. love your style Mz Joy!!
Thank you very much ^^ you should watch it!