Reviewed in brief: 'The Attack,' 'Rising From Ashes'

Secretary of State John Kerry recently declared that a peace deal between Israel and Palestine would happen within the next nine months.

His optimism might not survive a screening of "The Attack."

Protagonist Amin Jafari (Ali Suliman) is a prominent secular Palestinian surgeon who works and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. One morning, a suicide bomber kills 17 Israelis, including 11 children. The bomber turns out to be Amin's wife, Siham.

Amin spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out how Siham (Reymond Amsalem) became a "fundamentalist monster" without his noticing. He returns to his hometown of Nablus, Palestine, in search of a Sheikh Marwan, whom he believes influenced his wife. There, Amin finds photos idolizing Siham plastered on walls across town, and he discovers that his own family is proud of her. But actual answers are harder to come by. The Israel-Palestine conflict, he realizes, does not lend itself to simple explanations.

Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri effectively portrays Amin's journey through denial, anger, disillusionment. "The Attack" doesn't force us to pick a side. But it does force us to question our outsiders' hope in conciliation. When Amin finally gets to confront Marwan, the sheikh questions the point of talking. "We'll never agree on anything," he says.

ANDREW WAGAMAN

Rising From Ashes
⋆⋆⋆ out of four stars
Unrated: In English and subtitled Kinyarwanda and French.
Theater: Lagoon.

The war-scarred team had more to deal with than time trials and snapped chains. Recruiting young men whose families were devastated in the ethnic cleansing, Boyer organized local races, pushing his riders ever harder to international competitions. Ultimately Adrien Niyonshuti won a slot at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The pride in his countrymen's faces as they watch him compete on television is one of the film's emotional high points. This is an inspiring tale of a nation, and a man, not wanting to be judged by past misdeeds.

C. C.