Cautionary tales often have some of the most significant impact when brought to life on the big screen. These pictures generally deliver powerful, troubling, concern-filled messages with a sense of graphic, in-your-face urgency, all aimed at warning us of catastrophes potentially waiting to happen. And, when they reveal the nature of those calamities, they shock us into submission in the hope that we take steps to avoid them before they materialize.
It’s truly astounding how mankind is capable of both tremendous greatness and despicable savagery. How can one species lay claim to both? What’s more, how can both traits be found within a single individual? Yet, in a surprisingly large number of instances, that ends up being the case.
Imagine being forced to live your life completely on others’ terms, never doing what you want, no matter how strong your desire. Sounds pretty dismal, right? Yet, for those in certain communities, that kind of coercion can be an everyday circumstance. The isolation can be positively crushing, removed from what suits you and being forced to pursue your dreams in secret, if at all, for fear of the repercussions. And, in the meantime, you’re likely to find yourself behaving in uncomfortable, unnatural ways, tantamount to living a lie.
When life doesn’t pan out as we hoped and believed it would, it can be disillusioning, if not devastating. It can even lead to tremendous strain among those who thought they could count on one another when it came to living up to expectations. Such exchanges can turn into seemingly irreparable estrangements filled with bitterness and no hope of reconciliation. But need that be the case?
Imagine being saddled with a label that was anything but true. What’s more, imagine being cruelly persecuted for that erroneous characterization, subjected to emotional and even physical abuse, making life unbearable. Prejudice, discrimination and harassment are nearly constant companions, and such treatment is often inflicted by one’s nearest and dearest, including family members. If it’s possible to picture that, then you have an idea what it might have been like for members of a patently and unfairly disrespected minority community that did nothing to earn or deserve such disgrace.
“The Insult” (“L’insulte”) (2017). Cast: Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamond Bou Abboud, Rita Hayek, Talal Jurdi, Christine Choueiri, Julia Kassar, Carlos Chahine, Georges Daoud, Elie Njeim, Rifaat Torbey. Director: Ziad Doueiri. Screenplay: Ziad Doueiri and Joëlle Touma. Web site. Trailer. Oftentimes, when people quarrel, they’re not really debating about what they claim they’re arguing about. In many instances, there are issues beneath the surface that are the actual source of the conflict, most of which are far removed from the problem at hand. These proxy disputes provide a buffer against the real issue coming out, either because we don’t recognize the true root of the disagreement or because we’re not ready to deal with it. However, if [...]
