Omar is a Palestinian baker who frequently climbs the West Bank barrier to visit his lover, 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 shoot a soldier dead in a night time attack on a checkpoint, with Amjad acting as the sniper. Later, Omar and his friends are pursued by the Israeli authorities who have been tipped off about him and Omar is captured. After being tortured by an agent named Rami, Omar is tricked into incriminating himself. Facing life in prison, Omar secures his release in exchange for aiding in the detention of Tarek, whom Rami says he believes killed the soldier. Due to his release, Omar is suspected of being a collaborator and stigmatized. Omar's situation is worsened because Nadia is Tarek's sister. Due to Omar's delays in helping with Tarek's capture, he is pursued by the Israelis and is rearrested when a planned operation is betrayed, resulting 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 them and says that Nadia is pregnant with his child, dishonouring both of them, and that the Israelis used that to blackmail him. 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 an affair with her but is now married to her and they have two children. She still loves Omar who also learns that Amjad did not deliver a letter she wrote to Omar before her marriage. He is visited by Rami who attempts to coerce him into killing a leading militant. Omar promises his assistance in capturing the new ringleader of the Jerusalem Brigade and promising to tell Rami who the real killer of the soldier in exchange for a gun. Omar then tells the ringleader about Amjad but gets agreement that Omar is to be the one who deals with him. Meeting Rami, with three other Israeli agents, Rami gives Omar a gun but Omar uses it to kill Rami.
Cast
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'arefugee 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.
