elsinefilo Abu Raed (Nadim Sawalha)is a simple airport janitor at the International Airport in Amman. One day he finds a discarded captain's hat in the garbage.When he wears it on his way home, one of the kids in the neighborhood mistake him for a pilot and wants him to tell about 'his adventures'. Though he is unwilling to tell any story at first, Abu Raed doesn't mind pretending to be the local captain who regales the kids with his 'airborne exploits.' What seems to be a simple,unimportant hat at first turns out to be a treasure trove of love and fun.We later find out that Abu Raed is a guy who resists being an embittered, hardened old man in spite of the fact that he lost his wife and his only child. Though he is a simple janitor, he speaks profoundly from the heart. He is well-read and wise. He even has a smattering of a few European languages.With such an original story, truly moving picture and convincing acting you just want it to be bit more fast-paced actually. Since there are lots of subplots in the movie, during almost more than half of the movie you just wonder which set of events (or people) will be regarded less important. Whose story will be developed? The story of Nour (Rana Sultan), a female pilot whose wealthy father poorly tries to find her a husband or the story of the local kid Tareq (Udey Al-Qiddissi)who is forced into child labor by his father instead of going to school? In the end, Amin Matalqa chooses to tell the story of Abu Murad whose mother constantly gets beaten by his abusive father. Though you can't tell everyone's story in a feature length movie, Mataqa's finalizing all these subplots in a finale in the last twenty minutes leaves a half-baked flavor in your cinematic enjoyment and you wish it were a better-paced and better-edited movie but that doesn't mean Abu Raed is not a movie that's worth every minute of your time.It is purely humanitarian,truly moving movie which somehow gets to you. The pièce de résistance, however, is the fact that this movie Amin Matalqa's feature length debut.

arrabi This movie is a great one on several levels: 1- It depicts the life in Amman Jordan in a very real way: the difference between the poor (eastern) and rich (western) sides of the city very well. The nostalgic aspects of Amman downtown - the roman ruins everywhere, the stairs, the groups of kids running around ... This is one aspect never found in any previous Jordanian movies.2- The movie has very capable actors - very expressive faces. The kids in the movie are supposedly 1st time actors, gathered from refugee camps in Jordan. That is AMAZING. They truly acted so natural.3- amazing soundtrack - the music score adds so much to the emotional scenes - yet, it remains transparent. Perfect combination.4- the story is very nice, global, humanistic, 3rd world concerns (child employment, familial violence, poverty, class segregation, etc.) I think the story could have been better: I wish it had more depth, I wish the problems presented are not so "cliche". Child employment and familial violence are problems that usually 1st world people "project" on 3rd world countries. However, if you ask 3rd world people about it, chances are they are at the bottom of the list. Not because they are not important, but because there are so many other more pressing problems, AND, because they often tend to be symptoms of poverty & ignorance.I wish the author has picked a problem where right and wrong are actually much harder to decide. The movie seemed a bit long even at 1.5 hours.I also wish the movie got faster.. the introduction, and I would say the first 60 minutes of the movie were perfect. The director was preparing the stage for the plot very nicely. However, after 60 minutes, one would expect the movie to pick up speed and not remain very "dreamy" like. The plot came very quickly.Overall, great job director Matalqa. I am looking forward for his future movies.

lrgupton I saw this movie at Sundance 2008 and was thrilled to learn that it was showing at the AFI Film Festival in Dallas. I didn't hesitate for a second to buy a 2nd ticket! Once it's released in theaters, I'll be purchasing my third ticket and insisting that my friends attend with me. We were lucky enough to hear the director speak at both showings which added so much to the experience. Learning that most of the children were cast from children who were living in a refugee camp was quite surprising. The performances of the children were first rate. Nadim Sawalha who played Captain Abu Raed was outstanding as well. In addition, the backdrop for the movie - Amman - was magical. This movie is a must see!

jeanclaude-elias I went to see the film just out of curiosity. I was in for a surprise - a rather pleasant one. This is a great movie from many a viewpoint. The actors, the subject, the photography, the editing and the atmosphere. Looking at it as the first Jordanian feature film (even though many of those who worked on it are not Jordanian) I find it truly great. Looking at it globally, as an international film, I still find it well above average - much better anyway than many low grade Hollywood movies. I only have two regrets. The film would have had an even greater impact if it was some 20 or 25 minutes shorter. The music: although beautiful, well interpreted and recorded, it does not seem very appropriate for such an intimate film; by moments at least. It seems to have been composed for some kind of huge, mega production the likes of Gladiator or Troy and such. Other than that it is, again, a very fine movie and I truly enjoyed it.