Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

This film is about a man who finds out that his wife killed 17 people in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel and finding out the why and the how.I really liked the plot of this movie because the main character is an Arab, not an Israeli. It really shows you two sides of the same coin and that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is different for everybody. It shows the pain and suffering from both sides and why they do what they think they must do. But also how somebody can think they know somebody while the truth is that they don't.IMHO this film showed me why the conflict will not end in the near future (it will probably get worse). And that is a good thing because something needs to be done about it, adding more violence to the equation will only make it worse.Climatically this film was great, the production quality was top notch. Even though I like foreign films the languages used made it hard for me to enjoy it fully. I think it is because the way they talk makes their emotions look different.I really don't understand why this film was banned in so many Arab countries, because I think this film will make people understand the situation a bit more.Anybody who is interested in the conflict or in a good plot should really watch this, 7/10

"The Attack" is a real emotional roller coaster in the sense that one second you'll be filled with sadness while the next you'll be furious beyond words and then you'll be so tense you won't be feeling anything at all except for fear. Before I get started talking about this film, I will tell you that this one absolutely blew me away, but I had real trouble finding more information about it because this foreign film still doesn't have a page on Wikipedia. I implore all of you out there to seek it out, and if you can, contribute to writing the article about it. I am going to be on the lookout for a DVD/Blu-ray copy of my own so that I can do my part as well. Back to the movie. It's a brilliant, thought-provoking film that you should take the time to watch. The film is about Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman), an Israeli Palestinian surgeon who is on top of the world. He has just received a prestigious award for his work at the hospital; he has a loving, beautiful wife and many Jewish friends. It seems like despite the odds that a Palestinian in Israel would normally be facing, everything is going perfectly. His life is shattered however when he learns of a suicide bombing in a restaurant. 19 people are dead, including his wife Sihem (Reymonde Amsellem). Worst of all, the police believe his wife is responsible for the attack that left 11 children dead and all of the evidence points towards this conclusion as well. Amin is convinced that this is a mistake. His wife was supposed to be out of the city visiting her family and if she had been up to such a sinister plot, he would have known... wouldn't he?This film is an emotional roller coaster. The subject of the film is an poignant one to begin with. The idea that someone so close to you might be responsible for such a heinous crime... right away the emotions start boiling up. Fear that it might be true. Sadness that your loved one and so many are gone in such a senseless act of terrorism. Anger that if it is true, that you could have been deceived, or anger that people would dare to insinuate such behavior from someone you trusted. With the police's conclusions, Amin's life is turned upside down, and the emotions keep rising and churning. His friends turn their backs against him, the police heckle and torment him (not in ways that are particularly wrong, but in ways that will make you frustrated as it becomes obvious that our protagonist knows nothing). As you watch the film, looking for clues as to what really happened; you'll draw your own conclusions. Myself, I became infuriated whenever I saw flashbacks of Amin and Sihem together. It felt like she had been lying to him every day for 15 years of marriage, only to access the public's trust because of his prestigious position as a top-notch surgeon. At the same time, I was hoping that everything was just a big mistake.There is also a heavy thriller element to the film. I'd divide this into two parts. The first is that You don't know how our main character is going to be in the end. Because he rejects the conclusions the police come up with, he decides to do some investigating on his own... and it brings him to some very dangerous places. I like to describe these kinds of thrillers as movies where you have to apply large amounts of deodorant before going in because they will literally make you sweat out of nervousness. I don't want to say too much because there are some devastating revelations in the film, not necessarily about Amin's wife, but about the world that Israelis and Palestinians (and by extent, the whole world) lives in. Another element that I really liked was that the film portrays the consequences of terrorist acts with startling accuracy. I've already mentioned the fact that Amin becomes mostly ostracized by the people around him but there's more to it than that. The pain, the anger, the questions that rise from the actions are all dealt with with complete frankness in the film. It gave me this whole new light on a subject that I really hadn't given too much thought. The racism that's displayed in the film is heartbreaking and yet deep down, you know that what you are seeing is just a glimpse at something that is even more extreme in real life.The brilliant thing about "The Attack" is that it's a profoundly emotional story, but there's a whole lot more to it. It's also a brilliant thriller and a film with a powerful message. The movie never really spells it out for you but by spending the 1hr and 42 minutes with this character the message becomes clear. I don't want to spoil it because it really is something you need to see to understand but it affected me profoundly and left me reconsidering a lot of my preconceived thoughts about Israel and Palestine, as well as terrorism in general. The performances are very strong, the script and story are very well done and it is likely going to be an Oscar contender come the end of the year. For the sheer effect it had on my emotions, I was easily able to overlook any flaws (and even then, there were only minor ones). For all of the moments the movie gets right and for all of the light that it shines on a very real issue, it earns itself a high recommendation from me. (Original language with subtitles on the big screen, September 5, 2013)

This is a good film, perhaps a very good film. It held my attention and I found myself being drawn into the streets of Tel Aviv, and then into the more gritty streets of Nablus. It's beautifully photographed. We hear so much about the conflict and see grainy photos of war and tragedy but this movie gives the feeling of what it's actually like to live there. The drama, however, is a different matter. It is so obviously fiction that we feel manipulated by a story that is artificial and made up to expound a particular point of view. That this point of view is neither partisan to the Israeli nor the Palestinian side of the conflict is a good thing, but in it's evenhandedness it seems too contrived to be believable. Amin is an Arab doctor in a Tel Aviv hospital who must treat the victims of a suicide bomber. Turns out the bomber is his loving wife who he never suspected was a terrorist. It is not believable that the wife, a Christian, would blow herself up out of sympathy for the Palestinian cause, (there have never been any Christian suicide bombers as far as I know), it is not believable that the husband would not suspect that the wife was faking her love for him all that time in order to be a sleeper agent for Muslim terrorists inside Israel. The plot is contrived to bring maximum pain and confusion to the husband so he can be a sort of existential symbol of the contradictions of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He is a straw man, made to witness his wife's betrayal and see first hand the horrific results of her insane act merely so we can philosophize about the pity of war. Obviously, the wife was incapable of seeing that what she did could only make matters worse for the Palestinians. In fact, all the oppression the Palestinians complain so much about is a result of Israel having to defend itself against suicide bombers. This point isn't really mentioned in the movie, which is a serious oversight. When he finally realizes that the perpetrator of this heinous act was his beautiful wife, Amin vows to find out why she did it. He goes to Nablus where he grew up and where he hopes to find clues to her motivations. Once he sets foot in Nablus we instantly feel we're in crazy town. His wife's picture is on the walls and people are praising her act. Because she is so obviously a fictional character meant to evoke a certain emotion from the audience, she cannot be said to have any real motivation. We are supposed to conclude that she felt such sympathy for the Palestinians that it deranged her, but the film lets us down because it doesn't give any emotional correlative to her state of mind. Amin meditates on a pile of rubble where a fictional massacre was said to have taken place, but there's no feeling of the impact that scene could have had on his wife. The movie is subtle and evocative, but basically false.

While the movie presents in general an unbiased and, for the most part balanced, view of the mutual Israeli - Palestinian misunderstandings, for lack of a better word, I feel that at least on one occasion the director missed to give a counterargument to an obviously fanatic Palestinian religious priest figure's assertion to the effect that the Jews do not belong in "their" territory. Nevertheless, the director does a masterful work in depicting the deep and troublesome moral issues faced by those brave individuals who attempt to bridge the chasm dividing the two "adversaries". The photography and acting are outstanding to say the least.However, it is most unfortunate, if not morally criminal, for the Arab League, I believe, to ban this movie on the absurd grounds that it was filmed in Israel, and not in "Palestine". This action just adds further insult to injury.