film review for Michael Smith

Film Review of Captain Abu Raed

Captain Abu Raed is a film of many firsts.

It was Jordan’s first official submission for a best foreign film Oscar — ever. Its producers say it’s the first

independent film to emerge from a Middle Eastern country in five decades. The film made its writer and director,

Amin Matalqa, the first Americ an Film Institute Conservatory student to finish a feature film before graduation.

Matalqa went on to be the first Arab World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 along

with just short of thirty additional prizes from around the world.

Since its release and world renowned reception, Matalqa has gone on to produce three additional feature films

including The United , Strangely in Love , and The Rendezvous , set to be rele ased in spring 2017 . Matalqa’s

filmmaking highlights the quiet moments of unsung heroes in small corners of the world while introducing viewers

to other aspects of that world, often bridging cultural gaps in the process.

Captain Abu Raed , though, is more than ju st a piece of film history. It’s an intriguing glimpse into a small nich e

inside Amman, Jordan and a moving testament to the potential that exists there as much as anywhere else —

although its inhabitants have trouble believing it as much as anyone else might .

Captain Abu Raed (Nadim Sawalha ) is the title character, though he’s not really a pilot. He’s mistaken for one by

the neighborhood children when he returns one day wearing a cap he found in the trash at work (h e’s actually a

janitor in Amman’s Queen Alia International A irport ). He tries to come clean about his occupation , but quickly

realizes that these poverty -stricken children might need dreams more than they need the truth. He captivates

them with tales of his travels, encouraging them to reach for the stars. And is n’t he though a pilot in a sense given

his powerful ability to transport these children safely to locales around the glo be — even if only in their vibrant

imaginations?

Two neighborhood boys in particular are in need of Abu Raed’s kind -hearted attention . Tareq (Udey Al -Qiddissi) is

a smart boy with much potential , but his father often pulls him out of school to help out w ith family expenses by

sell ing wafers on the street. M urad (Hussein Al -Sous) is the group’s token skeptic; his abusive father has turned

him into a young cynic who doesn’t hesitate to utter har sh, dream shattering words to the other children such as,

“People like us don’t become pilots.”

But the down -trodden and poverty -strick en are not the only ones facing difficulties in society. Nour (Jordan

television presenter Rana Sultan) i s a true blue, licensed Jordanian pilot. Beautiful , relatively young, and fiercely

independent, she’s a modern woman with an old -fashioned father who would rather see her married, barefoot,

and pregnant with her feet planted firmly in the ground instead of fulfilling her life long career goals soaring high

above the clouds . His cr iticism and her in difference to it has her somehow disappointed that she ’s not more

disappointed in herself .

Abu Raed himself has not escaped feelings of disillusionment . He lives in soli tude while hauntingly bearing the

endearing namesake “Raed” preceded by the Arabic word for father, which s uggests that he likely had a family of

his own once upon a time. It takes an unlikely , chance friendship though, for Abu Raed to finally reveal the secrets

of his past to viewers , who will feel touched and privileged bearing witness to his revelations .

Among other things, Captain Abu Raed is a well -executed debut film . Jordan finally gets the chance to show itself

off a nd Sawalha is a genial tour guide through the nation’s rich culture and its battles with modernity — but he’s

also matched by young actors who represent Jordan’s future. Th e filmmakers recruited several of the child actors

straight from local refugee camps , which is likely one of the reasons wh y their plights seem so authentically

moving.

Matalqa himself was born in Jordan, moving to the U.S. at a ge 13, but visiting Amman almost every year. With

charm and grace, in Captain Abu Raed he gives us a true moving picture of his homeland .