Out in the Dark is an Israeli film about a Palestinian student who falls in love with an Israeli lawyer until their relationship is threatened by a chain of events that began long before they met and do not directly involve either of them. It does not help that the student and lawyer are both men, which is epically more problematic for the student than the lawyer.
Out in the Dark should feel melodramatically contrived, but because of the leads’ chemistry, instead it feels more like Casablanca for ordinary people, not resistance fighters. I was genuinely shocked when things began to go south even though the Palestinian and Israeli conflict is a constant factor throughout the film.
Some people critique Out in the Dark for “pink-washing” as Israeli propaganda since Palestinians are characterized as homophobic and violent to LGBT Palestinians. Apparently Out in the Dark is part of an emerging genre of films, which include The Bubble, Zero Degrees of Separation, Drifting and Beyond The Walls, which are not available on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, of LGBT relationships between Palestinians and Israelis. I have no idea whether these cultural characterizations are accurate, but a cursory Internet search seems to suggest that being gay may be penalized under criminal law in Palestine. I hope that I’m wrong, and the critics are correct because if Out in the Dark is accurate, then reality is heartbreaking. Romeo & Juliet have nothing on the star-crossed lovers of Out in the Dark.