Peace Film
Danny Glover, Nia Long, Evan Ross, Summer Bishil, Roger Guenveur Smith, Kunal Sharma, Dorian Missick, Peter Carey, Stacie Hadgikosti, Kimberley Drummond, Dredan McFall
In his first year of college Tariq (Evan Ross) has begun questioning his beliefs and his life so far. He’s been raised in a strict Muslim school and being pushed by his father extremely hard to stick to the Muslim ways. Abused by the professors and forced to memorize over half the Koran, Tariq has now changed his name to “T” and though his father insisted he be placed with a Muslim roommate, he is pretty fed up and wants some freedom to live life as he wants. His mother (Nia Long) is on his side, but his father is very harsh. Told through flashbacks to Tariq’s childhood, we begin to see why his is like he is. Suddenly the attacks of 9/11 hit, and life changes for all Muslim people as everyone is a suspect now. Tariq has some hard questions to answer as he sees the affects of 9/11 on the school and the country as a whole.
This is a very touching film. It does not take a particular side and tries really hard to show the life of a Muslim child who’s father was a radical in the 60’s fighting with the likes of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, but it is now a new century and trying to force his son to be like him doesn’t really work anymore. His mother supports dad, but also loves and cares for her son and knows something is wrong. His sister is in the middle and not sure where to go. T’s friends also can’t understand why he’s like he is. It’s a matter of understanding Tariq’s life and what he’s endured to please his father. This helps up understand him a lot better and makes sense of the senseless things he does. Then his eyes are opened at the hatred faced after 9/11. This is a very good study of Muslim culture and helps us understand where they are coming from as well. It’s very well done, not one sided, and a real good character study. I wasn’t expecting a lot from a movie about this, but it was way better than I expected. It was a definite plus, and a good look at what it’s like to be raised in an environment where you are expected to meet the requirements of a fanatical parent. Many people in many cultures have grown up in an environment such as this. All sides of the family are shown and it’s easy to see why the dynamics are like they are. Danny Glover plays the dean of the college who is at odds with a somewhat radical teacher whose not really doing anything wrong, but for the wrong reasons. He’s at odds over finances and donations that could be affected. But the dean of a college has to worry about things like this or there is no more college. Still, Glover is good in his role, as always, but it’s under used and could easily have been left out of the story as it’s mostly just a distraction at this point.
But all in all MOOZ-lum works and is a really decent film. If you’re a fan of dramatic character driven films, or remotely curious in Muslim life, this film will not disappoint.
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