# Omar (2013 film)

Omar (Arabic: عمر, romanized: ʻUmar) is a 2013 Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. It won Best Feature Film at the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film was screened at the United Nations in New York on 1 May 2014.

## Plot

Omar is a Palestinian baker who frequently climbs the West Bank barrier to visit his sweetheart, Nadia, a high-school girl whom he intends to marry. Omar and his childhood friends, Tarek and Amjad, have been practising attacks on soldiers. Caught in one of his crossings, Omar is beaten and humiliated by Israeli soldiers. The three later make a night time attack on a checkpoint, and Amjad acts as a sniper in fatally shooting an Israeli soldier.
Later, Omar and his friends are pursued by the Israeli authorities, who have been tipped off about him; Omar is captured. When he enters prison, he is tricked into incriminating himself by an agent named Rami who poses as a fellow prisoner. After being tortured by Rami to reveal who shot the Israeli soldier, Omar is facing life in prison. He secures his release in exchange for aiding in the detention of Tarek, whom Rami says he believes killed the soldier.
After release, Omar is suspected of being a collaborator and is stigmatized. His situation is worsened because Nadia is Tarek's sister. When Omar delays in helping with Tarek's capture, he is pursued by the Israelis. He is arrested again when a planned operation is betrayed, which results in the deaths of four militants. Other prisoners attack him as they believe he is a traitor, and he makes a second deal with Rami. He confronts Amjad, who admits betraying the other two. Amjad tells Omar that Nadia is pregnant with his child, which dishonours both Amjad and her. The Israelis used that fact to blackmail Amjad.
Omar forces Amjad to confess to Tarek, who tries to kill him. In the ensuing struggle, Tarek is killed when his gun accidentally goes off. With Rami's help, Omar and Amjad hide their involvement in his death.
Two years later, Omar visits Nadia and discovers Amjad was lying about having had an affair with her. But she married Amjad and they now have two children. She still loves Omar, and tells him that she had written a letter to him before her marriage, but Amjad did not deliver it.
Rami visits Omar to try to coerce him into killing a leading militant. Omar promises his assistance in capturing the new ringleader of the Jerusalem Brigade and, in exchange for a gun, he promises to tell Rami who had killed the soldier years ago at the checkpoint. Omar tells the ringleader about Amjad but gets agreement to allow Omar to deal with his old friend. Omar meets again with Rami, who is with three other Israeli agents, and is given the promised gun. He quickly turns it against Rami, killing him.

## Cast

* Adam Bakri as Omar
* Waleed Zuaiter as Rami
* Leem Lubany as Nadia
* Eyad Hourani as Tarek
* Samer Bisharat as Amjad
* Tarik Kopty as Tarek's father

## Production

Director Hany Abu-Assad describes putting together the idea of the film in one night, writing the structure of the story in four hours and writing the script in four days. After a year of securing finance, filming began at the end of 2012 and took place mainly in Nazareth Nablus and the Far'a refugee camp.
Waleed Zuaiter managed to secure the $2m budget for the film, 5% of which came from Enjaaz, the post-production fund of Dubai International Film Festival and the remainder from Palestinians.

## Distribution

Adopt Films acquired all U.S. rights to Omar after its premier at the Cannes Film Festival. UK distribution rights was acquired by Soda Pictures and distribution rights in France was sold to Pretty Pictures.

## Reception
### Critical response

Omar has an approval rating of 90% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 87 reviews, and an average rating of 7.46/10.The website's critical consensus states, "Twisty and riveting, Omar is a well-directed crime drama with uncommon depth". It also has a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

### Awards

| Award/Festival | Category | Winner/Nominee | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Palestine | Nominated |
| Asia Pacific Screen Awards | Best Feature Film | Hany Abu-Assad, Waleed Zuaiter | Won |
| Asia Pacific Screen Awards | Best Performance by an Actor | Adam Bakri | Nominated |
| Asia Pacific Screen Awards | Achievement In Cinematography | Ehab Assal | Nominated |
| Camerimage | The Silver Frog Prize for Best Cinematography | Ehab Assal | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival | Un Certain Regard Jury Prize | Hany Abu-Assad, Waleed Zuaiter | Won |
| Dubai International Film Festival | Muhr Arab Best Director Award | Hany Abu-Assad | Won |
| Dubai International Film Festival | Muhr Best Film | Waleed Zuaiter | Won |
| Ghent International Film Festival | Youth Jury Award Best Film | Hany Abu-Assad | Won |
| Vilnius International Film Festival | The Audience Award | | Won |
| Tromsø International Film Festival | The Norwegian Peace Film Award | Hany Abu-Assad | Won |