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The Israeli director Nadav Lapid makes abrasive moral dramas whose stories fragment and detour in unexpected and unsettling ways.
Tamimi was subsequently arrested, and an Israeli member of Parliament suggested she be shot in the knee.
But it turns out thatAheds Kneeisnt really about Ahed or her knee at least not directly.
The document is a mere formality, but it sets him off.
Thats the emotional setup, and its an interesting one.
Maybe thats why his work regularly resonates beyond Israel.
Hes a mess, but more than that: Hes a manipulative, duplicitous, even hypocritical mess.
His fiery monologue may be terrifyingly intimate and sincere, but its laced with ulterior motives.
At what point does constant aggrievement become its own toxic form of aggression?
At what point does rage become cruelty?
But also: At what point does merely going about ones business perpetuate great evil?
What is the threshold for quietly participating in an oppressive system?
Humanity has never had easy answers to such questions, and neither doesAheds Knee.
And so, the movie itself shrieks, and flails, and breaks, and burns.
It might be a masterpiece.
