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THE VISITOR Send This Review to a Friend
The unfairness with the way illegal immigrants are sometimes treated is at the forefront of “The Visitor,” a moving drama that focuses on the subject from the experiences of a burned out college economics professor and widower whose life is turned around by what happens when he unexpectedly becomes involved with a Syrian immigrant, his Senegalese girlfriend and the immigrant’s devoted mother. The film has been directed by Tom McCarthy, who did the impressive “The Station Agent,” and his star is Richard Jenkins (“Six Feet Under”), who gives an affecting, laid back performance.
Jenkins plays Walter Vale, who teaches in Connecticut but keeps an apartment in Manhattan that he rarely uses. When he has to stay there for a conference, he is shocked to find a young couple living there as a result of a real estate scam—Tarek, the Syrian, played in a strong performance by Haaz Sleiman, and Zainab, his girlfriend, portrayed sympathetically by Danai Gurira. The drama turns on Walter allowing them to stay, and on the friendship that grows between Walter and Tarek, who is an excellent African drum player and teaches the art to Walter.
The second shocker occurs when Tarek is picked up, put in a detention center in Queens and is in danger of being whisked away without anything that resembles due process. Tarek’s mother Mouna, portrayed by lovely actress Hiam Abbass, shows up to help, although she does so against her son’s wishes--he doesn’t want to cause her pain. Now Walter befriends Mouna in the effort to save her son from being shipped off summarily.
Affection grows between Walter and Mouna, but to the credit of the screenplay, written by the director, the situation isn’t cheapened by going too far with the attraction.
This keeps the emphasis on the unjustness of cruel immigration procedures and Walter’s personal salvation by means of his coming out of his shell and getting involved with others. “The Visitor” is a sensitive story beautifully told and one that also carries a sharp thrust against injustice. An Overture Films release.
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