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Nominate-best-2010

Review: Captain Abu Raed

Funny and touching
By PETER KEOUGH  |  August 27, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

 

A janitor (Nadim Sawalha) at the airport in Amman, Jordan, comes across a cap misplaced by a flight crewman and takes it home. Devoid of any diversion except imaginary tea parties with his deceased wife, the weary old coot dons the hat and becomes Captain Abu Raed, a much-traveled airline pilot who spins tales of his adventures for the waifish neighborhood kids.

But what of Murad (Hussein Al-Sous), the tough little punk who insists on blowing the Captain's cover? First-time director Amin Matalqa forgoes the treacly old-man/cute-kid formula in favor of tougher material: Murad's brutally abusive father and, by extension, the atavistic patriarchal tyranny still alive in Jordanian society.

Boosted by a funny and touching performance by Sawalha in the title role and featuring the cinematically untouched beauty of the ancient city, Matalqa's film shows how the most liberating flights might be those of the imagination.

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ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
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  •   REVIEW: EDGE OF DARKNESS  |  February 05, 2010
    A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.
  •   REVIEW: FROZEN  |  February 03, 2010
    A storm is coming, the girl has to pee, and then things get much worse.
  •   KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010  |  February 02, 2010
    Karen Schmeer, the brilliant local film editor whose work on Errol Morris's documentary The Fog of War helped win it the Best Documentary Oscar in 2004, died January 29 in a tragic accident, struck by a getaway car as she was crossing a street in Manhattan. She would have turned 40 on February 20.
  •   IS THERE 'HOPE' IN HOLLYWOOD?  |  January 29, 2010
    Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
  •   REVIEW: WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON  |  January 27, 2010
    Much scarier than 2012 is this documentary about the death grip that fundamentalist religious groups have on American politics.

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

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