Omar (Netflix Movie) Review
Do you know how they catch monkeys in Africa?
They addict them to sugar cubes. Then the hunter sets up a simple trap that closes on the monkeys hand when he grabs the cube. The hunter knows that the sugar-addicted monkey will lose his freedom forever before he lets go of the sugar cube, even when opening his hand to release the cube might give him a way out.
Who is the monkey?
Omar is a film about love—love for another person, love for your friends, and love for your country. It follows protagonist, Omar, in Palestine as he tries to navigate different relationships in the many facets of his life. The central question on his mind: how far does dedication go? How much is freedom worth? In Omar’s case, he is standing on the precipice, trapped by three-way dilemma. Israeli soldiers killed his best friend, the love of his life is too far to reach, and his friend deceives him into a trap of caged survival. Now he must work with Israeli soldiers as a spy. On his own team.
This film highlights the extreme dedication that Palestinians have for their country. It depicts the relentless hope that eventually things will change, but more so it demonstrates that regardless of status the biggest unifier is a common enemy. Perhaps now more than ever, a strong unifier of all Arabs is the feeling of frustration and anger with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Despite failed attempts of Pan-Arabism in the past, Israel provides a unifying issue in the Arab world; when faced with a constant fear of being caged, the characters in the film show this idea that strength comes in numbers and (sometimes blind) dedication to resistance.
In addition to patriotism, Omar, also depicts relationships in community in the Arab world and how friendship is unconditional and the good of the group is put before the individual. It shows both the good and bad aspects of a collective society in that there is no limit to helping those close to you; family and friendship are not relationships to be casually had, they are a form of dedication to the whole instead of parts. However, when there is a lack of individual success what follows is a destruction of each individual (in this case, Omar) from the constant absorption of the group’s bad decisions.
Ultimately the answer to the questions is everywhere and everything. Dedication to love and your friends travels everywhere even in the darkest of cages. Freedom is worth everything; it’s hard to see a way out when the monkey refuses to let go of the sugar cube. When a person fights so hard for what they think is the answer (resistance) they will never be able to realize that freedom has a price, and unfortunately it took Omar losing everything before he realized what freedom is worth to him.
Relationships are a strong force of nature, and the film, Omar, shows that despite warning signs of deception, love and friendship turn into our own sugar cube. Always sweet, but sometimes toxic.