Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

m-ozfirat This film portrays how the people's of the Middle East especially Arabs and in a wider sense Muslims are clichéd with a rather imperative attitude by Hollywood. Dr Shaheen examines how and why these stereotypes are upheld and epitomise the ethnic groups of the Middle East and Islamic culture in general. He takes a look at the cultural and political science behind the negative images that has deep roots which are Orientalist and how this has become politicised with American interests in the Middle East and especially the Levant since the Second World War. He does not deny that there are problems in the Arab world but this has become a stereotype that has become so ethnic to the core that it is invisibly racist. The good thing about it is that it is for the general person who has no background knowledge of these images to access the information in an easy manner to combat these stereotypes for people especially now with American military action in the Middle East to overcome these prejudices and the imperial rhetoric. However I feel he should of made a reference to the works of the late Edward Said to give it more depth and a wider understanding whilst keeping it general and to the objective of cinema. One reviewer has called this an apologist for Sharia culture which shows his shallow understanding and lack narrow Philosophy. Arab and other civilisations such as the Chinese have their own values, cultures and identities that were for their time more advanced then the West which only rose as late as the the 19th Century and can overcome their own problems if left alone. I will finish why are some groups positively stereotyped and others degraded.

johnmichael-2 The point of this documentary: Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims are unfairly portrayed in cinema. Sure. I believe that. But so are most minorities. Everybody knows this.There are many, many flaws in this documentary. First, it assumes that we are stupid, and that we believe everything Hollywood tells us. Wrong. I am friends with quite a few Muslims, and I don't think they're terrorists. Nor do I watch many movies with Arab stereotypes. In fact, of all the movies cited in the documentary, I've only seen "Aladdin." And when I do see stereotypes, I can differentiate them from real life. This documentary even gives existing examples of positive Arab portrayals in films like "Syriana," "Three Kings," and "Kingdom of Heaven." Gee, how groundbreaking. If Shaheen can find the good Arab roles, then any movie audience can, too. And they can recognize them.Secondly, this documentary poorly made. "Reel Bad Arabs" is, as another reviewer said, a talking head giving examples. And it's only one talking head. Any work of nonfiction, whether it be a documentary or a news article or a book, cannot survive on one expert opinion alone. And this documentary definitely doesn't. The narrator, Jack Shaheen doesn't even have screen presence. This documentary is just 50 minutes of him whining into a camera in an effort to advertise his book on the same subject.Thirdly, this movie is unnecessary. Here's the basic point: Some movies stereotype Arabs, but there are also some movies that don't. What Jack Shaheen should have done was just to give us a list of the "bad" movies and a list of the "good" movies and leave it at that. That would have taken two minutes at most, instead of this fifty-minute run-on. We would have been able to figure out what the stereotypes were (once again, we're not stupid), and that the good portrayals were the ones where Arabs acted like actual human beings.P.S. Did anyone else notice how Shaheen used the original line from "Arabian Nights" (Aladdin)--"Where they cut off your ear/ If they don't like your face"--when nobody sees that version anymore? All video released use the line: "Where it's flat and immense/ And the heat is intense." That controversy was closed off long ago and is now irrelevant. Like the rest of this documentary.

otisnoman Hollywood's treatment of Arabs on screen is actually often gentle and politically-correct, thanks to fear of protests like Mr. Shaheens.If the depiction of Arab terrorists seems over-the-top in a dumb action-adventure, try looking at pictures of Islamic men about to decapitate a hostage or the carnage after a suicide bombing. Or listen to a Bin Laden video urging Americans to join his efforts to establish a new caliphate. And does Shaheen really want Hollywood to show daily life in Iran, where women have to make sure they are not seen in public with nail polish on their fingers lest they be sent home or even beaten by religious enforcers who roam the streets and shopping centers? How about the stoning of adulterers, or punishment of rape victims, or limb-amputation of petty thieves? Until Islam itself confronts and truly tries to stop the use of random violence against civilians and the application of medieval laws to modern citizens, it's going to have a problem getting good press.

kabboud This simple truth of how Arab in whole are vilified in both media and movies needs to be told. Just as other ethnic groups before, their voices need to be heard so that hate crimes and discrimination can be avoided. The first step is through documentaries such as this one. The narrator, Jack Shaheen has written other great books such as The TV Arab, which in text shows and uncovers a lot of the same criminalization of Arabs through movies and TV series, as well as the mainstream media. The next step is by telling people about these documentaries so that people can become informed about the truth. Jack Shaheen approaches this delicate yet critical topic in the most respectable and professional manner.Great Film!