The medium line is often difficult to walk. To me "the attack" is about a man trying to walk this line of truth without falling on any side of hatred and narrow minded feelings of bigotism or revenge. Thus the theme of this movie is central to our time.It shows religious fanaticism with a human side, not to undermine it, not to excuse it; but to show us it's true origins...between a desperate sense of meaning for one's one life, communitarian reverence of heroism, but also those moment of doubt that are well depicted in the movie (ex! last calling scene).If, as the Doctor says,"those things are beyond us ", it just really leaves us with the question of how to put them behind. This being said, the plot is halting a bit. The last scene, about departure and sadness, also fails to capture the movies core. Thus good, but not parsimonious and focused enough to make it the great masterpiece it could rightfully have had a claim to.

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.

One of the most disappointing films we've ever seen. The audience walked out puzzled and bothered.How could you take a magnificent cast of actors, give them a wonderful script, and then screw it up so badly?!I personally think the film could be used as a recruitment film for terrorists on both sides of the conflict. The world doesn't need more of that!I do not want to include a spoiler. Suffice it to say it was a wasted evening.One note: There is a scene about a "Jenin massacre", which never happened and was so blatantly false that it was immediately repudiated in most of the world press. I guess lower standards in some parts of the world can keep a lie going eternally.

"Who knows the secrets of the human heart?" The Crying Game.Three tales comprise this simple, beautiful, and harrowing drama of a Palestinian doctor, Ali Suliman (Amin Jaafari), working in Tel Aviv and receiving the equivalent of the Israeli "medical Oscar." What a fine metaphor, you say, of hope for peace between these warring peoples! Yes, but why is his wife, Siham (Reymond Amsalem), not there to share in his finest professional moment? The Attack is first of all about a terrorist act, for she is preparing to become a Palestinian martyr at the expense of 17 Tel Aviv civilians' lives and numerous maimed women and children. The reality of this tale is that such attacks are common but not so easily explained except that two populations hate each other enough to commit mayhem the reason for which no one can really understand beyond the obvious territoriality.Second, it's an attack on the brilliant doctor's understanding of human nature as he assesses how he knew nothing for their 15 married years about what would lead her to become a suicide bomber. In thematic terms, the fathomless mystery lives on about how well we know those closest to us (see opening quote) and by extension, how well the Israelis and Palestinians know each other.Third, The Attack is about understanding the wall between Israel and Palestine that makes collaboration such as in the opening medical award scene a fantasy for two peoples in a terrorist state of mind. Slowly the film allows the hatred and suspicion to seep into each frame with a subtlety so graceful as almost to be unseen and unfelt. Never does the film descend into melodrama or hysteria.The Attack is an understated masterpiece focusing on the emerging awareness of a doctor that the violence he tends to in the hospital is closer at home, but he learns too late. That is probably the most effective part of Lebanese writer/director Ziad Doueiri's vision: We can't understand terror in part because it hides itself until it explodes on the scene.Although the Arab League asked for a boycott of the film because the director violated a Lebanese policy forbidding work by its citizens in Israel, the league may have missed the film's somewhat benign treatment of Siham and her cause. Truth be told, though, neither Israel nor Palestine is the bad team in this film. Rather, the bad is the ignorance that fosters violence in the name of liberty. Such a lack of awareness assures there will always be attacks.The only hope I found is in Screen Comment's final assessment of the film itself as an emblem of cooperation: "Witness the coming together of a crew as talented, as diverse and as honest as that of 'The Attack,' bringing us this unflinching testimony of a situation to which the world has unfortunately become inured but which will have to find a solution some day."