By Blake Penfield, Student Writer
Nazis and dinosaurs. Here we have two groups of people (Nazis are people, too) who always are portrayed as villainous, conniving sadists in film. In fact, with the exceptions of Schindler’s List and The Land Before Time IXXVIII, I cannot think of one film where a Nazi or a dinosaur is portrayed as a real, feeling human being.
This is what’s happening with Muslims in our popular culture today. It began with the first Gulf War and only has been exacerbated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
More often than not, Muslims are portrayed as contemptible people so filled with a blind religious zealotry that their relish for causing random death and misery is matched only by George Lucas’ relish for destroying my childhood.
Traitor bucks this trend.
Yes, it has Muslim extremists. Yes, it depicts terrorist attacks on innocents in the name of Allah and Jihad.
But it also does a great deal to humanize these people and works to give some sort of plausible motivation to a theological philosophy that is completely foreign to most of our western minds.
Traitor was written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who wrote The Day After Tomorrow. But, don’t let that fool you-this one is actually pretty good, which is surprising given the film’s ho-hum trailer.
Traitor explores interesting territory that gives it an edge other films of this kind lack. The director gives us some pretty heavy themes- religious pluralism and tolerance, the juxtaposition
of one’s duty to God with one’s duty to government and even some utilitarian versus deontological arguments about the sanctity of life. Not bad for the guy who wrote the tagline, “This year, a sweater won’t do.”
Don Cheadle stars as Samir Horn, the devout Muslim son of a Sudanese Muslim martyr and an American mother.
Though throughout the movie Samir is pursued by the FBI and deals with terrorists, he must ultimately reconcile his actions with the Koran’s teachings and Allah’s will.
Cheadle does a great job building a bridge between the ideals of the Middle East and the culture of the West.
He’s got an ability to telegraph a great deal of emotional depth through his eyes and he uses the trait to tremendous effect in his portrayal of Samir. Guy Pearce also does a wonderful
job as the southern good ol’ boy FBI agent. Pearce and Cheadle complement each other well in their scenes together.
They both explore the symmetry between each of their characters’ religious convictions, which adds volumes of depth to what could have come off as a cheesy civics lesson in the hands of lesser actors.
The score offers an interesting blend of Middle Eastern strings with a more western Bourne-esque style.
The former does a nice job of setting the theme and slowing the pace, while the latter moves the action along nicely with a pulsing series of carefully calibrated aural delights.
The cinematography highlights the seedy locales within the different cities and contrasts nicely with the short snippets we get of more colorful scenery. The things going on in these cities are not pretty, and the camera makes sure we see that.
Although the story has a few good twists and turns that keep you interested throughout the length of the film, pacing becomes a bit of a problem about three quarters of the way through the film. You’ll find yourself squirming in your seat
while you wait for the film to reach its climax. A couple of plot holes in the film may detract from the story as well. However, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
The interesting and unique perspective married with strong performances makes an enjoyably cohesive narrative experience.
