Captain Abu Raed

Jordan’s first feature in over 50 years, Captain Abu Raed follows a kind-hearted airport janitor (Nadim Sawalha’s Abu Raed) as he stumbles upon a pilot’s discarded hat one day and subsequently tricks all the neighborhood kids into believing that he is, in fact, an airline captain – with this aspect of the proceedings eventually used as a springboard for an episodic look at the downtrodden existence of Abu Raed’s children and the degree to which he inevitably changes their lives for the better. Filmmaker Amin Matalga does a nice job of eliciting impressive performances from a cast comprised primarily of unknowns and it’s also worth noting that the movie boasts an unexpectedly cinematic sensibility that belies its low budget, yet despite his best intentions, Matalga is simply unable to transform this simple story into a wholeheartedly compelling piece of work. Exacerbating matters is the writer/director’s decision to infuse the proceedings with a pace that’s almost oppressively slow, which – in addition to holding the viewer at arm’s length from start to finish – results in a progressively tedious atmosphere that effectively renders the film’s positive attributes moot. The relentlessly earnest vibe, coupled with a finale that’s admittedly quite touching, ultimately prevents Captain Abu Raed from becoming the all-out bore one might’ve anticipated, although, given its place an all-too-rare Jordanian production, the movie finally can’t help but come off as a disappointing missed opportunity.

*1/2 out of ****