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Can something as simple as saying I'm sorry stop a war in the Middle East? That is the premise of a new film called "The Insult." It's from Lebanon, and it's up for an Oscar. And in the film, a neighborhood fight between two men pushes the city of Beirut to the edge of chaos. NPR's Bilal Qureshi has more.
BILAL QURESHI, BYLINE: Filmmaker Ziad Doueiri was at his home in Beirut a few years ago. He was watering his plants on the balcony when the water spilled out onto a construction worker below.
ZIAD DOUEIRI: So I leaned on the balcony. I yelled at him. He yelled back. He says, you're a dog. And then this thing led to a bigger insult which - I threw an insult at him. Joelle, the co-screenwriter, was standing behind me that day. And she says, how could you insult a Palestinian as you said? This is so bad what you just said. I said, you're right. So I came down to apologize. And then the guy refused my apology because he was very hurt.
QURESHI: That argument is pushed to its extreme in Ziad Doueiri's new film, "The Insult." Water leaks off a Christian man's balcony onto a Palestinian worker. Arguments ensue. Insults are thrown.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INSULT")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, foreign language spoken).
QURESHI: Neither man is willing to apologize.
DOUEIRI: It's very rare in my culture where you can have somebody who does something and he comes face to face, says, look; I really apologize. It's not part of our culture, so that's why this guy in the film, he wants an apology. All he wants is an apology. And then later we start finding out why.
QURESHI: The why has to do with Lebanon's past, the religious and ethnic divisions that tore the country into warring factions. From 1975 to 1990, the Lebanese civil war killed more than a hundred thousand people.
DOUEIRI: Lebanon, in spite of its smallness - it's only 4 million people - it's still extremely rich because it's one of those places that has all the religion in it. You have Christians, Shiites, Sunni, Catholics, Protestant, Armenian, Turks - all of it. You know, you have 16 religion that are all recognized by the government. It's what made it diversified, complex and fiery.
QURESHI: And it remains flammable, says Lebanese journalist Nana Asfour. She says what has kept those communities together since the civil war is only a shaky peace.
NANA ASFOUR: The theme that Ziad is taking on, which is this whole idea that the war ended abruptly without any national conciliation, is something that a lot of Lebanese filmmakers and artists and writers of his generation have been sort of pushing for in their own works, that idea that there's been what they call a historical amnesia that has happened in Lebanon where everybody's thinks, oh, let's just look forward and not look back. All the problems that led to the war have not been dealt with appropriately, and anything can happen to bring them back.
QURESHI: In "The Insult," the argument over leaking water goes to court.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INSULT")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character, foreign language spoken).
QURESHI: The proceedings go viral. Palestinians and Christians start fighting on the streets of Beirut. The politics on screen are still so sensitive that Ziad Doueiri's previous film was banned in the Arab world. It was called "The Attack," and it was about the Arab citizens of Israel. Doueiri filmed part of the story in Israel, which is against Lebanese law. He says artists have to be free to explore other points of view.
DOUEIRI: I grew up all my life considering the other side as the ultimate enemy. But I am still curious. I want to know, who are those people? I am for dialogue. I am for bridging gaps. This is what we do for a living. Crossing borders is what we do for a living just to see, what is their narrative, those people you grew up all your life hating so much? But they must have a point of view. "The Insult" is the response to that.
QURESHI: Now "The Insult" is also facing protests led by the BDS movement, which calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. They've accused Doueiri of being pro-Israeli and of selling out. After "The Insult" premiered at the Venice Film Festival last fall, Ziad Doueiri was detained at the Beirut airport. The film's screening in the West Bank was canceled.
DOUEIRI: The BDS' purpose is - what? - defend Palestine. When you go and you forbid a film where the main actor, a Palestinian guy, won best award at Venice Film Festival, first time in history that a Palestinian actor went in Venice or anywhere else in the world - first time - when the BDS, who are supposed to be protecting Palestinian rights, stop this Palestinian actor to present his movies in Ramallah, basically you're screwing yourself in the head. That's why I will fight them till the end, till the core.
QURESHI: Ziad Doueiri says he won't apologize. And given the firestorm around his work, he was shocked that Lebanon chose "The Insult" as its entry to this year's Oscars.
DOUEIRI: That was my award. I already got my award. Nobody believed that it would happen. I mean, Lebanon does take you by surprise from time to time.
QURESHI: And Doueiri says his movies take him by surprise, too. His default setting is angry and cynical. He's been known to throw insults. But he says it's through his films that he calms down.
DOUEIRI: In my film, I try to tap into the moderate part of me. Otherwise you lose your mind. But if you let me out there, I can be a lot angrier. If you hear what I really think, I would be the subject of a different interview. I mean...
QURESHI: So your films play a moderating...
DOUEIRI: In myself. It's - you project. You say, oh, it would be good to have a world like this.
QURESHI: And Ziad Doueiri says his films are his way of healing the scars that still divide Beirut and his way of pouring water over the insults that inflame so easily. Bilal Qureshi, NPR News.
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