Omar (2013)
Movie · 2013 · Thriller, Drama, Romance · 1h 36m · AR
Curator score: 7.4/10 (27.7K ratings)
Overview
The drama, the story of three childhood friends and a young woman who are torn apart in their fight for freedom, is billed as the first fully-financed film to come out of the Palestinian cinema industry.
Ratings
- Curator score: 7.4/10
- IMDb: 7.5/10
- Letterboxd: 3.79/5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
- Metacritic: 75
- TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Hany Abu-Assad
Production
ZBros
Cast
Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Leem Lubany, Samer Bisharat, Eyad Hourani, Mousa Habiib Allah, Doraid Liddawi, Adi Krayem, Foad Abed-Eihadi, Essam Abu Aabed, Anna Maria Hawa, Ziad Jarjoura, Wafaa Aon, Jehad Abu Assal, May Jabareen
Where to watch
Chai Flicks
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, morally knotted political thriller that doubles as a tragic romance, Omar is gripping, emotionally bruising, and sharply made. Its power comes from how it turns occupation, surveillance, and betrayal into intimate human drama rather than abstract geopolitics.
Best for
- viewers who like political thrillers with real-world stakes
- fans of tragic romance and betrayal stories
- people interested in Palestinian cinema and perspective-driven world cinema
- audiences who appreciate claustrophobic suspense and bleak endings
Skip if
- you want a neutral or apolitical thriller
- you prefer fast, glossy action over patient tension
- you are looking for a light romance or uplifting drama
- you dislike films that are openly political and emotionally punishing
Overview
Omar is a lean, nerve-tight thriller that uses its political setting not as background but as the engine of every choice. The film’s greatest strength is how it makes trust feel impossible: friendship, love, and survival all become instruments of pressure in a landscape shaped by occupation and surveillance.
Worth noting
Hany Abu-Assad stages the story with a controlled, almost procedural intensity, so the suspense grows from ordinary movement through streets, walls, and checkpoints. That physical confinement gives the film a bruising immediacy, and the performances keep it grounded in fear, desire, and exhaustion rather than rhetoric.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the film’s tragic sense of consequence. It is not just about resistance or betrayal, but about how systems of control deform private life until every relationship carries a cost. Harrowing, precise, and emotionally devastating, it’s one of the stronger political thrillers of its era.
Top Letterboxd reviews
dobi (4.5★) · 239 likes
fuck amjad, all my homies hate amjad
joojoo (5★) · 211 likes
There is such a small variety of films that truly portray the life of a Palestinian. This film was outstanding in every aspect. Hany Abu-Assad made this film to give Palestinians a job, so he hired an all Palestinian cast, giving the much needed Palestinian/Arab representation to the film world. It also showed the beauty of Palestine. This was filmed in various parts of Palestine, including the city most famous for its beauty, Bisan. It showed the architecture, the flowers,… more There is such a small variety of films that truly portray the life of a Palestinian. This film was outstanding in every aspect. Hany Abu-Assad made this film to give Palestinians a job, so he hired an all Palestinian cast, giving the much needed Palestinian/Arab representation to the film world. It also showed the beauty of Palestine. This was filmed in various parts of Palestine, including the city most famous for its beauty, Bisan. It showed the architecture, the flowers,… more
cinemasauron (3.5★) · 88 likes
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at Oscars last year, Omar is a compelling tale of love, loyalty & betrayal that offers an insight into the existing tension between Israelis & Palestinians from the latter's perspective and with the help of its composed direction, strong performances, raw photography and an unexpectedly shocking finale, it manages to make itself heard in a brutal fashion. The story concerns a young Palestinian baker who joins the freedom fight against the common enemy along with two… more
eely (3.5★) · 80 likes
oh those last 30 seconds had me sweating! now that’s how you end a movie!
comrade_yui (4★) · 75 likes
really well-crafted thriller that uses the immanent reality of israeli occupation in the west bank to achieve wellesian intrigue, lots of great tracking shots and wide angle blocking. the story is a simple cat-and-mouse game but the intimacy of space in the west bank gives it a claustrophobic texture, emphasizing how palestianians are broadly imprisoned in what should be their home, and the film's resolute commitment towards maintaining a fierce politics of resistance is admirable in a world cinema which is all too often asked to mute or sublimate its unique perspective.
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Topics
political thriller, tragedy, romance, occupation, West Bank, claustrophobic, moral dilemma, world cinema, 2010s, suspense