A Monkey Movie Review

There is sooooooo much to love about this film that I hardly know where to begin.

The basic plot is that a divorced woman living in Occupied Palestine gets to bring her teenage son to the USA to live. They move to Illinois to her sister's house and there as the second Gulf war unfolds they encounter some of the best and worst that America has to offer an immigrant who wants nothing more than to earn a decent living and to be part of the American dream.

I loved the positive portrayals of Arab Americans in this film. They're not wild eyed Jihadis bent on destroying the USA, nor are they goody goody too good to be true hapless pawns in some geo political struggle. They are just ordinary people dealing with what life throws at them and they make mistakes at times but at all times they are human and likable.

I loved the positive body image message this film has in it. The female lead, played superbly by Nisreen Faour, is a a normal sized woman, which means everyone thinks she's fat and even she thinks so too until she finally decides that it's okay if she doesn't look like a twig. She's actually quite attractive and she becomes more so when she finally accepts the fact that she's never gong to look like what western civilization thinks she should.

I loved that this film is primarily about the older people in the story. Yes, the teenagers and kids are important to the plot but it's the adults who move the story forward and it's the adults who are the most interesting characters.

In addition to Ms. Faour, I also loved the performances of Hiam Abbass (hubba hubba!), Alia Shawkat (who some of you will remember was in Arrested Development), and Joseph Ziegler.

This sweet little film is well worth checking out if only to show you that there are positive Arab role models in films today.