Review of Civic Duty (2006) by Deb S — 23 Apr 2010

This movie taps into the post 9/11 paranoia and Peter Krause is believable as the recently laid off accountant, Terry Allen who now is having trouble finding work. He becomes suspicious of his middle-eastern looking neighbor Khaled Abol Naga who has just moved in and seemingly fits the profile of a terrorist because of his friendship with other Arab looking guys who show up at his place with all kinds of mysterious packages and who has the strange habit of dumping his garbage at odd times at night. Khaled also has ominous looking chemical equipment in his kitchen along with ATM deposit envelopes for what appears to be a money laundering set up for terrorist activities. The ending keeps you guessing as it was never really clear whether or not Krause was paranoid or justified in suspecting his neighbor.

My Take: I just think this movie will make more people paranoid. It's is not hard to believe that this kind of bigotry still exist despite our policy of innocent until proven guilty where one should not discriminate based on ethnic culture, religion or color of skin; even if it turns out in the end that you were right all along. It's enough to depress you but will definitely leave you wondering even when it is all over.