L’insulte (L’affaire No. 23) de Ziad Doueiri

Abstract

How a trivial incident – a Lebanese Christian who washes his balcony, deliberately splashes a Palestinian foreman in charge of road and building planning, who insults him – becomes a matter of national debate and trial ? The main subject of the movie is the resentment of the Christians of East Beirut towards the Palestinians who were their enemies during the war, and vice versa. The confrontation between the two sides shows the evolution of hatred, animosity, forgiveness and memories 35 years after the war. The filmmaker treats this subject with a rare audacity, asking if we must reconnect with the pre-war Lebanon to forget the war and reconsider the amnesty/amnesia of the the post-war period.