Get to the Theatre Before this Visitor is Gone

The Visitor
Written and Directed by Thomas McCarthy
Overture Films



Back in 2003, I saw a film that changed my life. It starred three marvelous character actors portraying three incredibly well written characters. The film was called The Station Agent and was written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, who has graced the world of independent cinema with a new film. In The Visitor, McCarthy has managed to, once again, hit on all cylinders by delivering strong characters and a touching story while also addressing the state of our immigration system.



The Visitor stars Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) as widowed college professor Walter Vale. Walter has manage to fall into a decade long rut, satisfied to teach the same course over and over again while pecking away at his latest book. When he is forced to attend a symposium in New York, he is surprised to find two illegal aliens staying in his apartment. Desperate for some sort of spontaneity in his life, he allows the squatters to stay until they are able to find somewhere else to live.

The young couple are Tarek Khalil (Haaz Sleiman from 24), a Syrian musician, and Zainab (Danai Gurira in her motion picture debut), an artist from Senegal. The two have managed to stay under the radar by avoiding encounters with the law but, in a post 9/11 America, they know that any slip up could mean deportation or worse.



Walter finds himself inspired by Tarek’s African drumming and strikes a fast friendship with the young Arab. Soon they are playing together in the apartment and Central Park drum circles. However, just as things seem to be picking up, Tarek is arrested in the subway and sent to a detention center for illegal aliens. When Tarek fails to contact his mother Mouna (Haim Abbass from The Syrian Bride) for several days, she arrives on Walter’s doorstep looking for answers.

In order to allow Zainab and Mouna to communicate with Tarek, Walter puts his life on hold to visit him daily, each time seeing the young musician’s spark weakened by desperation and depression. Zainab isn’t much better as she finds her own sense of hope extinguished as she tries to figure out where Tarek’s imprisonment leaves her.



As if things weren’t complicated enough for Walter, he finds himself falling for Mouna and the couple find comfort in one others’ arms. This is where the film finds its complex center as issues of identity, loss, fear, and outrage are explored both on screen and in the minds of the audience. We root for their romance to succeed despite the fact that the deck is stacked firmly and legally against them.

McCarthy is a master at creating characters with whom we genuinely identify. For example, as Tarek’s situation becomes more and more hopeless, I found myself experiencing the same sense of anger and despair that Walter feels. Jenkins’ subtle performance relies on facial expression and posture to express his character’s helplessness. There is pain here, and the script, directing, and acting make it real enough to draw tears from even my cynical eyes (but if you tell anyone, I will deny it!).



During a season of blockbuster epics, there’s a great gem playing at your local independent cinema. Get yourself to the theater and catch The Visitor before it goes away. If you miss it, rent The Station Agent and count the days until The Visitor's DVD release.



The Visitor is currently playing in theatres.