Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

LSuhr I love Captain Abu Raed and the love he has in his heart for everyone around him. He helps everyone and never expects anything in return. His character is beautifully written and you learn so much about him and you can see how his past helps to shape him as a person and his actions. I feel like the character of Abu Raed is a person who everyone wishes that they had in their life. He is that amazing. You NEED to watch this movie. It is amazing. Everything about this movie is amazing. The actors, the setting, the story, the characters, the dialogue --- EVERYTHING. WATCH IT. <3 <3 <3

Zoooma Sundance Audience Winner for World Cinema Dramatic.First feature film made in Jordan in 50 years.A beautiful film about an old and lonely man and his way of finding good in people and helping those around him. One day his world enlarges with new characters who become very important in his life. They give him meaning and everything changes. Subplots trudge along kind of slowly. There could have been more depth and better pacing but what's here on the surface is always engaging. Overall it's a very moving story that is filmed so very well; the lush orchestral score, cinematography and direction are each excellent to outstandingly perfect. Performances by the cast are simple and real, allowing us to get close to these people on the screen, to feel for them and their situations.Through my first 141 movies seen in 2013, this was my 6th Best!8.6 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

elsinefilo Abu Raed (Nadim Sawalha)is a simple airport janitor at the International Airport in Amman. One day he finds a discarded captain's hat in the garbage.When he wears it on his way home, one of the kids in the neighborhood mistake him for a pilot and wants him to tell about 'his adventures'. Though he is unwilling to tell any story at first, Abu Raed doesn't mind pretending to be the local captain who regales the kids with his 'airborne exploits.' What seems to be a simple,unimportant hat at first turns out to be a treasure trove of love and fun.We later find out that Abu Raed is a guy who resists being an embittered, hardened old man in spite of the fact that he lost his wife and his only child. Though he is a simple janitor, he speaks profoundly from the heart. He is well-read and wise. He even has a smattering of a few European languages.With such an original story, truly moving picture and convincing acting you just want it to be bit more fast-paced actually. Since there are lots of subplots in the movie, during almost more than half of the movie you just wonder which set of events (or people) will be regarded less important. Whose story will be developed? The story of Nour (Rana Sultan), a female pilot whose wealthy father poorly tries to find her a husband or the story of the local kid Tareq (Udey Al-Qiddissi)who is forced into child labor by his father instead of going to school? In the end, Amin Matalqa chooses to tell the story of Abu Murad whose mother constantly gets beaten by his abusive father. Though you can't tell everyone's story in a feature length movie, Mataqa's finalizing all these subplots in a finale in the last twenty minutes leaves a half-baked flavor in your cinematic enjoyment and you wish it were a better-paced and better-edited movie but that doesn't mean Abu Raed is not a movie that's worth every minute of your time.It is purely humanitarian,truly moving movie which somehow gets to you. The pièce de résistance, however, is the fact that this movie Amin Matalqa's feature length debut.

Mike V.Derderian As 20007 and 2008 movie trailers kept rolling on the vast screen one viewer sat agitated in a seat in raw C16 in Grand Cinema hall number three. I was waiting for the main feature to start but why was I anxious? Well, I was about to watch the first Jordanian feature film in 50 years.What would you do when faced with the following question "are you an airplane captain?" when you know you are no more than a janitor! You do as Abu Raed (Nadeem Sawalha) did in Amin Matalaqa's 2007 movie Captain Abu Raed. He said yes and started telling the children that asked him that question stories about his extensive travels and adventures around the world.Captain Abu Raed stars Hussein Al-Souse, Udey Al-Qadise, Muhammad Qteishat, Ghandi Saber, Lina Al-Tal, Ali Maher, Nadim Mushahwar and Rana Sultan.How did Abu Raed the janitor end up as the neighborhood's storyteller and renowned aerial captain? After coming across a discarded captain's cap in a trashcan Abu Raed decides to wear it on his way back home. One of the neighborhood children, Tareq (Qadise), spots him coming down from the airport bus and inquires if he is an airplane captain.The next day, and as he is about to go to work, Abu Raed finds himself surrounded by a group of children hungry for tales of adventure and dreams.Pursuing one's dreams is the main premise in Matalqa's endearing 110-minute movie, which is filled with surreal moments that are a balanced blend of comedy and tragedy. "Good afternoon Um Raed," Abu Raed addressing a framed photograph of his deceased wife as soon as he gets home.Surrounded by antiques and shelves burdened with hundreds of books Abu Raed spends most of his time reading at the comfort of his house, which is surrounded by stone facades strewn across Amman's breathtaking landscapes that overlook its overcrowded streets and marketplaces.Captain Abu Raed's scenes were shot in Amman, Salt and of course Queen Alia Airport, where Abu Raed befriends the mild mannered and gentle Nour (Sultan), a female airline captain, whose nagging parents (Maher and Al Tal) are trying to pressure her into a marriage of convenience."Shall we go out to the terrace," Abu Raed holding a tray laden with a teapot and two glasses asks Nour, who smiles at his hilarity.A few minutes later and from the rooftop of his home Abu Raed proves to Nour that a person does not have to be a commercial airliner to fly above the clouds. Lying on his back and gazing at the never ending heavens Abu Raed also advises Nour, who is now doing the same, not to allow society or her parents to control her life.Abu Raed also gets involved in the lives of Tareq (Qadise) and Murad (Al Souse), two troubled children from his neighborhood. Tareq's father is forcing him to skip school and sell chocolate wafers, while, Murad's father (Saber) is tormenting and abusing his wife, Murad and his brother Hilal (Qteishat).Ghandi Saber's portrayal of the abusive Abu Murad is haunting. He is able to capture the menace of a misguided father, who can easily sow rage and sadness in his own children. Saber will most certainly dazzle Jordanian audiences in the years to come, whether he was performing in television, cinema or on stage.Veteran Jordanian actor Nadeem Sawalha, who I had the pleasure of meeting in 2003 in Amman, when he was performing All I Want is a British Passport!, a one man stage performance inspired by the story of Mohammed Al Fayed, added his own personal warmth to the character of Abu Raed that won him a Best Actor Award at the Dubai International Film Festival.Sawalha has been in dozen international cinematic productions like The Lion and The Wind (1975), Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), The Nativity Story (2006) and Diana: Last Days of a Princess (2007).While Amin's well-rounded script introduces audiences to different story lines presented through smooth visual transitions provided by Laith Majali's edits, Reinhart 'Rayteam' Peschke's cinematography accompanied by Austin Wintory's subtle original musical score re-opens our eyes to the beauty of Amman's scenery.Most if not all Jordanians will be able to recognize the Jordanian characters (dream possessed children, the nagging overprotective parents, the grumpy bus driver, the always complaining taxi driver and the hazy co-worker), Amman's cultural and historical motifs (Amman's asymmetrical architecture, Salt's ancient houses, the Citadel and the largest Jordanian Flag in the world) and cinematic references (the Francois Truffaut allusion) that Amin incorporated in his movie that transcends social differences and boundaries.Captain Abu Raed, which won the Audience Award for the World Cinema for Drama in the recent Sundance Film Festival, is simply Matalqa's ode to Amman.It is definitely worth the ticket price and every Jordanian should watch it at the movies for who wants to tell his children and grandchildren after a few years that he watched the first Jordanian feature in 50 years on DVD. Well…not this Jordanian!