the visitor

another cold night in this big city
so another trek through largely empty streets
past multiple restaurants in a trendy part of town
and to the art-house multiplex cinema visited last night
you the living lodged in my head and demanding attention
read all sorts of rave reviews about this superb film
then it popped up in the trailers to this evening's viewing
so that also forcing hope of a similar cinema experience
the visitor is a bored (and boring) university professor
his wife has died, his son is abroad, he seems to have no friends
so a visit to new york to attend a conference is undertaken
he owns an apartment there which is being illegally occupied
so mr-straight-white-guy confronts his opposites
zainab is a sengalese woman working at the markets
her live-in boyfriend tarek is a syrian djembe player
both young, happy, carefree, together
professor vale (walter) is drawn to tarek's music
initially watching him perform at clubs or on the street
and then taking a few lessons from him and joining in
but the post 9/11 xenophobia in new york spoils the fun
tarek is arrested for no apparant reason other than his looks
which finds walter leaping to the aid of his 2 new friends
he engages a lawyer and makes visits to the detention centre
in the meantime tarek's mother turns up unexpectedly
and it turns out that tarek and zainab are illegal immigrants
so an interesting and believable scenario is set up
the film is ostensibly about walters re-birth
a changed man now awakened to a different world
and his willingness to trust his intuition
that injustices should be railed against
different cultures and music have a place
and that love is an emotion not to be suppressed
his gradual awakening is handled quite gently
making it and the story all the more believable
it's not a knockout must-see truly enlightening film
but it has a good heart and tells a good story
funny how it's easy to stigmatise american films
this one however avoids all the unreal stuff
tells things as they are in today's world
with the emphasis on the goodness of people
despite all that is imposed upon them
not a bad little film at all really