The Visitor

The Visitor is easily one of the most authentic takes on the illegal immigration issue to ever be presented in a film. As if that weren't enough of a triumph, this movie is also an excellent character study, thanks to a truly fantastic lead performance by Richard Jenkins and to a script that never succumbs to cliches, even when it has SEVERAL opportunities to do so. There's not a single moment of falsity in this film; everything rings true.

Walter Vale (Jenkins) works as a university professor in Connecticut, and the first few scenes of the film focus on that aspect and they are dead-on in terms of accurately capturing even the smallest nuances of the college academic environment. It's uncanny how in these scenes Vale resembles your run-of-the-mill professor so much, particularly in a moment when one of his students visits him in his office hours to turn in a late paper and Vale does not accept the paper, even though the student claims he'd had personal problems that kept him from completing it on time. This is one of the many moments in The Visitor that could've felt forced or staged, yet it plays out exactly the way that it actually would in real life. Vale has tried and tried to learn how to play piano (with several different instructors), and it's all been a fruitless effort. A little later in the film, during a conversation between Vale and an old neighbor in the New York building, we discover the reason why he so badly wants to learn to play piano, and it is a heartbreaking revelation, to say the least.

The most fascinating thing about the character study that plays out over the course of this film is how it leads Vale to awkward moments in which he has to make up excuses and tell white lies, and how this all concludes with a great moment at a restaurant table in which he is finally able to admit the ways in which he's been dishonest with himself and others. Vale needs to leave Connecticut to give a conference on a paper he co-wrote... or rather, he simply read it, and agreed to co-author it, but he didn't really contribute anything to it. Upon arriving at the apartment he has in New York, he discovers a couple, a Syrian man and a Senegalese woman. They are Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira). They've been living in his apartment without his knowledge. The conventional way for this to unfold, of course, would be an overblown, angry moment in which Vale gets frightened and calls the police or kicks them out, but the moment is, instead, quite subtle and understated. He lets the couple stay, and it is amazing to observe how the relationship he develops with both of them, and later with Tarek's mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), revitalizes him so much. Prior to this chance encounter, it was obvious that Vale was bored as heck with himself, not even really accomplishing much academically, and lying to himself and to others about how "busy" he was, etc.

Things take a turn for the worse, though, when Tarek is arrested, not even for an actual crime, but for an extremely silly misunderstanding at the subway station. A despondent and scared Zainab soon leaves the apartment, although she does remain in contact with Vale. The only thing that's a shame about this part of the film is that it relegates the actress who plays Zainab to a more supporting role throughout the rest of the film, and she has far less screen time; this is unfortunate because Gurira gives a wonderful performance, and is able to display an extremely wide range. Consider her subtle reactions during her first few scenes when she's still skeptical of Vale and feels awkward around him. Consider also the scene in which Vale tells her that Tarek's been arrested, and she's not only sad that her boyfriend is imprisoned, but she's also scared for her own security. And consider the scene in which she glows with happiness upon finally meeting Tarek's mother, Mouna. She doesn't miss a single beat in any of these moments.

Once Tarek is arrested and his mother comes, the film focuses more on the relationship between our protagonist and the mother, and what is great about it is that there certainly is a romantic undertone here, as much as nothing blatant happens, but it is never forced. Arguably the best scene in the film comes when Vale and Mouna are sitting at a restaurant, and Vale goes ahead and reveals something that you'll definitely have already been aware of if you'd been noticing (throughout the film) all the nuances in how Vale answers questions about himself and all the "work" he does, but what's fascinating is the way he reveals this, turning this into such a poignant moment between these two characters. Several movies, particularly dramas, feature characters who experience emotional voids, but rarely is it so easy to relate to them as it is here with what our protagonist conveys.

I haven't spoken much about how the film treats the issue of illegal immigration because it would force me to reveal several plot points. After mentioning that Tarek gets arrested, it's tough to keep providing a synopsis of the film without spoiling important things. But suffice it to say that this could be the film that gets people to acquire an understanding of the severe trials that illegal immigrants have to go through and to stop viewing them as "the plague that is invading our country". That the characters who are illegal immigrants in this film are Arabs is yet another important consideration. During the scene in which Tarek is arrested, when one of the police officers pronounces his name, those words alone, coupled with how he looks at him when he says them, embody the prejudice that has been developed against this culture. Tarek himself says it best at one point: none of the people in the prison he's in are terrorists because terrorists have money and power and would never get stuck in the situation he's in, all because of his ethnic background. It is such a shame that this truly happens in real life, and it would be great if people could at least take something away from this film and re-evaluate their conceptions.

The Visitor is an extremely good film. I haven't even been able to mention all of the moments of sheer brilliance that are to be found here. I'll give you an interesting example to show just how authentic this movie is. I know this is quite a nitpick, but it's always bothered me that often in movies a telephone or a doorbell will always ring once people have stopped talking. The dialogue ends, and THEN you hear "ring!" or "buzz!", but it never happens while people are talking, even though you know that in real life, phones are usually gonna ring while you're actually talking, since (obviously) nothing in real life happens at the most precise, opportune moment. Well, surprise of surprises, this film actually features a phone that rings mid-conversation! It happens during the scene in which Vale and Mouna are at the office of the lawyer who is working on Tarek's case. I know this seems insignificant, but I really appreciated it, for some reason.

I can't say enough about how terrific Jenkins is. If the Academy Awards weren't a popularity contest, he'd certainly get a Best Actor nomination, but since the film is so small (which is a shame), and is being released earlier in the year, it may not happen. It's also important to note that Jenkins could've easily ruined things in the climactic scene in which he yells at the immigration police officers. An infinite number of actors would've gone completely over the top during this scene (which, if you notice, the things that the officer says to Vale in this scene are precisely the same as what he says to another character much earlier in the film, when Tarek had only just been arrested). Jenkins is a relatively unknown actor; prior to this, he starred alongside Emile Hirsch in The Mudge Boy (which is a masterpiece, by the way), and gave yet another great performance in that film. Interestingly enough, his character in The Mudge Boy was also coping with the grief of having lost his wife.

As you may predict, things don't end well in The Visitor. A positive outcome would've rendered the film an inaccurate depiction of the issue and its often unfair consequences. Its relentless honesty is more than commendable, and just as importantly, it is also a drama that strays from wallowing in melodrama (unlike last year's The Namesake). But the best thing about it is that it combines a very well-crafted character study with an excellent depiction of a pertinent sociopolitical issue, and for that, The Visitor is a superior motion picture.

8/10