Review of The Visitor (2008) by Chads. — 11 May 2008
Walter Vale(Richard Jenkins) plays the piano, because his late wife played the piano. Quitting the piano; parting ways with the piano itself, in favor of the African drum, living and breathing the drum, as Walter does in "The Visitor", he is saying goodbye to his wife and his bourgeoise lifestyle.
Walter's living space is representative of our country, a microcosm. Walter perceives Tarek(Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab(Danai Jekesai Gurira) as intruders when he first encounters the third world couple in his New York apartment.
After having second thoughts, he allows them to stay, to be visitors. Soon, Walter and Tarek become fast friends, and soon after Tarek undergoes a Kafkaesque ordeal, Zainab becomes friends with the economics professor, too.
For contrast, Zainab, a jewelry-maker, deals with a customer who treats the Senegalese street vendor as if she WAS a visitor. Zainab isn't the visitor; Walter is. That's because Walter doesn't impose a protocol with his new friends.
He rides the Staten Island ferry. He escorts Hiam(Mouna Khalil), Tarek's mother, to "The Phantom of the Opera". And most stirringly, he goes underground to perform as a street musician, not to ride the subway.
"The Visitor" is a movie about tolerance; tolerance so real, it starts to look like acceptance.
This review of The Visitor (2008) was written by Chads. on 11 May 2008.
The Visitor has generally received very positive reviews.
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