The story of “Captain Abu Raed” is so simple it might have come from another era and almost any place, despite the modern references to troubled families and independent Arab women.
In fact, the movie comes from Jordan, a country not known for its large film output. Its writer-director, Amin Matalqa, was born in Amman, although he lived in Ohio from the age of 13.
The title character is a janitor at Amman’s airport. A cultivated widower, he has never visited the places he sees the planes fly off to every day, because his salary won’t permit it. But with his library of 2,000 books, he nevertheless has rich, imaginative ideas of London and Paris.
Abu Raed (played by veteran London-based actor Nadim Sawalha) finds a pilot’s cap in the trash one day. Whimsically wearing it home, he’s mistaken for an actual airline pilot by the neighborhood ragamuffins, who beg him to tell stories of the big wide world.
Well, why not? He has read about all those places, anyway.
The plot of the film is arranged around a couple of new friendships. One hostile boy (who insists on revealing Abu Raed’s true employment) needs the old man’s help, because of an abusive situation at home. And Abu Raed’s quiet intelligence is noticed by a female pilot (Rana Sultan, a TV anchor in Jordan). Her family can’t believe she would rather have a career than marry a man — and we see a collection of decidedly uninspiring suitors come to call.
To be honest, the story of “Captain Abu Raed” is pretty bland, its devices transparent. (Some plot elements are almost exactly the same as Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” in fact.) It’s the setting, and especially the views of Amman, that give a sense of newness.
But frankly, the main character is so darn lovable it almost doesn’t matter if the story is old. Abu Raed is a man who doesn’t let poverty stand in the way of his love of learning or his rich appreciation of the rest of the world … even if he’s never seen the rest of the world.
“He who chooses the humble life, has guidance in his heart,” as Abu Raed says early in the movie. For this gentleman, humility has worked out extremely well.
“Captain Abu Raed”
A janitor (Nadim Sawalha) at the airport in Amman, Jordan, is mistaken by neighborhood kids for a pilot — so he obligingly provides them with colorful stories of the farflung world he’s never seen. The story devices are obvious (in some ways this is “Gran Torino” again) but the main character is so darn lovable, the movie really charms. (In Arabic, with English subtitles.)
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Varsity
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