But as enjoyable as it is to watch Walter’s emotional transformation slowly unfold, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the party isn’t going to last forever. Just when everything seems to be going so well, the immigration issue rears its ugly head when Tarek is locked up in a Homeland Security holding facility in Queens for a false charge. And since Zainab is also illegal, she can’t even visit Tarek because she’d face a similar fate. So as expected, it’s all up to Walter to help get Tarek out of prison and on the path to becoming a legal U.S. citizen.
While certain plot elements are easy to predict in The Visitor, writer/director Thomas McCarthy keeps the viewer on his/her toes with a twist in the story’s third act that provides another layer of emotional gravitas when Tarek’s mother Moana (Hiam Abbass) arrives on the scene. Even though they come from strikingly different backgrounds, they have their age and similar circumstances of losing their spouses in common. Ultimately, it’s their passion to see Tarek freed, however, that leads to a beautiful love story that’s not contrived or overly sappy.
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Telling the story through the relatable medium of relationships, rather than debate-the-points rhetoric, helps the audience see the immigration issue from a new angle and provides plenty of fodder for later conversation on the topic. Demonstrating the fruits of a life defined by the biblical mandate of “love one another,” The Visitor is a touching, entertaining indie film that certainly won’t wear out its welcome. It also proves the maxim that even a provocative topic like immigration goes down a whole lot easier with a little cinematic sugar.
CAUTIONS:
- Drugs/Alcohol: Walter drinks wine with every meal—including breakfast.
- Language/Profanity: In the film’s most intense confrontational scene, there’s several expletives.
- Sex/Nudity: Some kissing.
- Violence: None.