Ziad Doueiri

THE ATTACK

L'ATTENTAT

Screening room

Status: Completed

Director(s): Ziad Doueiri

Main cast: Ali Suliman, Reymond Amsalem, Evgenia Dodena

Short synopsis : An Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv discovers a dark secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing.

Long synopsis : Amin Jaafari is an Israeli Palestinian surgeon, fully assimilated into Tel Aviv society. He has a loving wife, a glittering career, and numerous Jewish friends. Then a suicide bombing in a restaurant leaves nineteen dead, and the Israeli police inform him that his wife Sihem – who also died in the explosion - was responsible. Amin rejects their accusation absolutely, but his conviction is shaken when he receives a posthumous letter from Sihem confirming her role in the carnage. Shattered by the revelation, desperate to understand how he missed any signs of her murderous intentions, Amin abandons the relative security of his adopted homeland and enters the Palestinian territories in pursuit of the zealots he believes recruited her. Once there, he plunges into ever-more dangerous places where he is unwelcome, mindless of his safety as he seeks answers. But by the end of his journey, Amin is forced to confront a deeper, more appalling truth than he expected – his inability to see his wife as she truly was and his failure to understand the reality that made her.