“I’ve got to put this character in a movie”

"The Visitor," one of the first great movies of 2008, was released in select cities this week and manages to portray Muslims as realistic, complicated, nuanced, and - for the first time in a long time - actually good looking human beings trying to live the "American Dream". Unfortunately, the Muslim characters in The Visitor have traded their dream for a nightmare, as the film highlights a paranoid, security-obsessed, anti-immigrant, post-9/11 world. Generally, tales of immigration, multicultural America, and "East meets West" culture clashes either immerse themselves in clichéd, cartoonish, stereotypical comedies or overt, bleeding heart, political slogans masquerading as plot narratives. Thankfully, Tom McCarthy, director of the runaway Sundance hit The Station Agent, creates a realistic, warm-hearted relationship drama about communication, redemption, and frustration focusing on the unlikely friendship formed between Walter, a depressed widowed university professor, and Tariq, his good natured Syrian musician immigrant friend. In the course of teaching Walter the drum, their relationship blossoms and grows to include Tariq’s beautiful but reserved Sengalese girlfriend, Zaynab, and his widowed, Syrian mother Mona. altmuslim associate editor Wajahat Ali recently talked to director Tom McCarthy and lead actor Richard Jenkins about this new movie.

“I’ve got to put this character in a movie”- Wajahat Ali

altmuslim's Wajahat Ali interviews director Tom McCarthy and actor Richard Jenkins to find out how they balanced themes from East and West in "The Visitor".