Hany Abu-Assad directs this fast-paced story about a blackmailed man who must collaborate with the Israeli secret service, thereby betraying his people.
A wall besieges the population of Belén as a reminder that their freedom is only apparent, while, at street level, people come and go. Huda’s (Manal Awad) betrayal happens quite normally and without any suspense, mid-morning in a hairdressing salon: Huda drugs and nude photographs Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi), a random client, as blackmail in exchange for giving information to the Secret Services. Thus, the Palestinian Hany Abu-Assad (‘Paradise Now’, ‘The Mountain Between Us’) puts us on the rails of the spy thriller, but also hides its codes. When the evil has already happened and nothing in the staging (neither montage nor music) anticipates the dangers that lie in wait for Reem, we learn to sharpen our eyes, we put the everyday in a state of exception.
Huda is soon caught too. Mounted in parallel, her interrogation becomes a didactic demonstration, although much less interesting, that the duck of Political intrigues always end up paying for it by those who are most vulnerable. It happens that, if we know a class too well, we will soon stop listening.
To arch the eyebrow at normality
DATA SHEET
Address: Hany Abu-Assad Distribution: Ali Suliman, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Samer Bisharat, Omar Abu Amer Country: Palestine Year: 2021 Release date: 29–07-2022 Gender: thriller Script: Hany Abu-Assad Duration: 91 min.
Synopsis: Reem, a young Palestinian mother married to a jealous man, goes to her friend Huda’s hair salon in Bethlehem and what should be a routine visit turns into an unpleasant experience when Reem begins to faint in her chair. Huda has set a trap for him. With the help of an accomplice of hers, they make her pose in compromising photos to blackmail her, and thus get her to collaborate with the Israeli secret service, thus betraying her people.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
