The Attack 2012

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: [An] intelligent, involving movie that's by turns a murder mystery and a politically charged argument about contemporary Palestinian identity. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Remarkably accomplished and self-confident. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Telling this story from the point of view of the perpetrator's anguished, bewildered spouse is an inspired idea, and it may work very well in Khadra's book. Suliman, however, is the wrong actor for the job. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Arouses profound questions about fanaticism, cultural identity, and the essential mystery of other people, even those we think we know best. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Screenwriters Ziad Doueiri and Joelle Touma pull quite a few punches here, making the doctor improbably naive about Israeli-Palestinian tensions so that his transformation seems profound. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: As this film demonstrates in so many ways, the intractability of the Arab-Israeli political situation is, to put it mildly, not easily resolved, least of all onscreen. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "The Attack" is about madness, personal and political, and a tragic overlap of the two beyond understanding. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: The Israeli-Arab conflict is stripped to its most intensely personal level in The Attack, a haunting and heartbreaking meditation on violence, choice, love and duty that is one of the most remarkable films of the year. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though it's never less than involving, it grows in stature as it unfolds and ends as a more subtle and disturbing film about love, loss and tragedy than we might initially expect. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: This picture may have been intended as only an intelligent drama made out of current conditions-which it is-but it leaves us with a bleak prospect that may be darker than what was intended. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Delicately executed thriller balances its political baggage with unflagging suspense. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The film unfolds like an endless argument, and in a way that's perfect; the unhappy union at the heart of "The Attack" isn't just the one that Amin and Siham had, but the forced one that that Jews and Palestinians continue to have. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Suliman, who plays Amin, also starred in Paradise Now, and it's no stretch to say The Attack is the most urgent, unblinking movie about the Israeli-Palestinian divide since that 2005 stunner. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A gripping, personal examination of a seemingly unresolvable conflict. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: "The Attack" starts out strong and swiftly unravels somewhere past the midpoint. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: The Attack is an ineluctably involving study of a civilized man caught in the middle of a ruthless, bloody conflict. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: This doleful and nuanced Middle Eastern tragedy is unlike any other recent film from the region in various ways. Read more

Leba Hertz, San Francisco Chronicle: Imagine a blissful life taken away: Story of an Arab man who's assimilated into Israeli society but finds out that his wife was a suicide bomber. Nothing new here about the conflict, fair portrayal of the sides, thought provoking without solutions. Read more

Andrew Wagaman, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The Attack" doesn't force us to pick a side. But it does force us to question our outsiders' hope in conciliation. Read more

Adam Nayman, Globe and Mail: It's set up as a descent into the heart of darkness, but it ends up playing out in pallid shades of grey. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: [Doueiri] does a fine job of presenting us with two worlds in conflict: modern, prosperous and progressive Tel Aviv, and Nablus, a city of shadows, squalor and paranoia. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: The Attack turns into a listless verbal assault, batting easy back-and-forth arguments on fundamentalist dogma, bomber hero worship, the Occupation blues, etc., that simply rehash the usual talking points. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: Arresting and upsetting ... Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: The Attack spreads the blame around for what is undeniably a nasty situation, any way you look at it. Read more