A film that was released in theaters last fall too little or no fanfare, one need look no further than an advertising blurb on the DVD: “The Most Controversial Movie of the Year” to understand why this might be. This prompts me to wonder though, like a tree that falls in the woods and no one hears…, if a film opens and nobody sees it…..can it possibly lay claim to the above statement?
No matter, four years after 9/11, we find ourselves with one of the first American films to examine terrorism through the eyes of a Muslim. Were Americans ready for this film? Judging by box office receipts, apparently not.
“Ignorance is not innocence” so quotes our protagonist Hassan, played by the doe-eyed, soft-spoken Ayad Akhtar. Part of his demagoguery only after he is abducted off the streets of Paris by US intelligence operatives who throw him into a decrepit prison, proceed to torture him for assumed but not concrete reasons that suggest his murdered brother was part of a terrorist plot. From this powerful opening, we cut to three years later where he has a reunion with his childhood friend Sayeed (an excellent Firdous Bamji) in New York where he stays with Sayeed’s wife, young son and sister under the pretension that he is looking for work. Hassan, still harboring scars over the murder of his brother was planning a suicidal terrorist attack but runs into a “war within” when he sees how Sayeed has embraced American life and how the possible love of Sayeed’s sister might heal his personal anguish.
Ayad Akhtar who also co-wrote the film delivers a frustrating performance. While I can’t pin-point anything particularly wrong with the performance, I never really felt I was getting the point of view the audience is supposed to be inhabiting. While I understand why this character was not written to be affable, would it not have been more frightening to have Hassan fit into American society more naturally instead of being so unbelievably dour and opaque? This miscalculation also falls on the screenplay which features some admirably candid dialogue challenging Western and Muslim fundamentalist ways of life yet also pulls numerous punches. Is Hassan’s refusal to discuss politics in a variety of scenes character motivated or lazy writing and a calculated decision to avoid some possible political pitfalls that they didn’t want to tackle?
There are fascinating relationships forged in the film, however, such as the relationship between Hassan and Ali, Sayeed’s young son. Hassan sees Ali as the next generation of Muslim men who need to be instilled with a sense of heritage that has been diluted by the freedom of America. Trying to get his allegiance, Hassan gives Ali a copy of The Koran and tells him “You are a Muslim. Never forget that. It means you have a duty to stand up against what is wrong, to stand up for what is right.”
This exchange is what I think defines the film. Amidst the Muslims continuous history of atrocity and war, Hassan thinks that “the right thing” is to exact terror so proscribed by Allah. It’s this constant struggle between what Hassan believes is a good Muslim and what Sayeed has taught Ali about being a good Muslim which is to follow your heart. To be a faithful Muslim, is there a middle ground?
The technical aspects of the film do little to disguise the film’s low-budget origins. The biggest issue I had was with the clarity of the dialogue. Unfortunately, the film does not offer English subtitles which is a major mistake considering the mix of heavy accents and on-location sound recording. There were many dialogue exchanges in which I had to rewind and play back several times to understand. The dialogue in the first scene in Grand Central Station is a prime example.
The musical score credited to “Free Association” was a no-frills affair that I imagine could just as easily be called independent melodrama score #1. Music can be an enormous factor in helping and establishing the tone of the film. No such help here.
I was also disappointed in the picture quality, a grainy, washed out look that has come to define a certain amount of independent films. A look I’m increasingly growing tired of. While that look might seem to be a good match for the subject matter, it makes viewing the film unnecessarily tedious.
The film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The special features include several deleted scenes, some of which are notable for including the development of a few white-American characters that were wisely excluded by the filmmakers to focus on the four central Pakistani characters.
The commentary by Writer/Director Joseph Castelo and Writer/Actor Ayad Akhtar is smart and informative. They go into detail about locations, production details, and the process behind writing the movie and developing the characters of Sayeed and Hassan. I will admit that I was hoping for a little more insight to questions raised in the film that were never answered but no such luck. Trailers for upcoming Magnolia Pictures releases finish out the package.
Ultimately, I think Joseph Castelo’s sophomore effort (after 2001’s virtually unknown ‘American Friend’) is a film with too many questions on its mind and too little answers. There are chilling questions posed by the film that need no answers such as, Do we really know who are friends are?, which I’m sure has more resonance for American-Muslims but these questions are few and far between.
The subject matter alone guarantees at least some insight into this frightening world and a certain amount of reverence but I think last year’s Paradise Now and parts of Syriana cover the same thematic ground a little more successfully as a narrative. For me, the real reason to see this film is the conversations it might provoke once the film ends and for that reason I am going to recommend it.
The War Within is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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