Review

Review Date: 20-April-08
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Visitor (2008)

A professor walks into his flat
in the city, a second home,
and finds to his astonishment
that he is not alone.

A couple has been living there,
having somehow got the keys,
a handsome man from Syria
and a lovely Senegalese.

The frightened twosome makes to go
yet before they truly start
the prof extends a hand to them,
mark of a noble heart.

"The Visitor" thus stakes its claim
as a subtle, moving gem,
a tale of strangers forming "us"
without the "versus them."

The academic's days are long
and his wife's been laid to rest,
but he gains new purpose and a friend
in his unexpected guest.

The Arab man, all youthful verve,
plays drums for work and fun
and sharing rhythm with his host
spreads joy where there was none.

While music often casts a spell
'cross lines from there to here,
it has no power to combat
a nation's deep-set fear.

The drummer's looks attract the cops,
who nab him without cause
and then, since he is green-card-free,
hold him with hazy laws.

His mom arrives to find him locked
like a killer, in a cell.
The professor fighting on his side
becomes her friend as well.

More than a friend, in fact, for she
is touched by his kind ways
and how he helps her dull the pain
of several anxious days.

Until at last the U.S. feds
decide on her son's fate,
an act whose value is not clear
in aiding peace or state.

These characters are nicely drawn,
they shine in all the scenes,
because you care for them it matters
what their message means.

This movie theorizes how
a homeland is secured,
is it when iron fists are clenched
or borderlines are blurred?

Such people are just average folk
who bonded in some place.
Might not the hope of all mankind
be meeting face to face?

"The Visitor" stars Richard Jenkins as Walter, Haaz Sleiman as Tarek, Danai Gurira as Zainab, and Hiam Abbass as Mouna.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.