The Visitor (2008)

A lonely old man, who lost his wife always pretend to be busy for work. One day he goes on a business trip to New York and meets a young couple. The man and the couple accidentally live in a house together. A young man loves to play music and tell the old man how to play kindly. The old man gradually comes to open his heart to the couple. However, the couple are immigrants and they actually live in New York illegally so they are taken by police. The old man tries to make the couple be free and goes to a detention house to meet them every day.This is a human drama and was released in 2007 in America. The director is Thomas McCarthy, who is an American director. Also, Richard Jenkins played the role of leading actor for the first time in this movie. I was so impressed by the movie, especially by the part of the kindness of the couple. Many innocent people like them are taken because of racial problems. We have to think the problem more seriously by watching this movie.

In 2008, Tom McCarthy crafted The Visitor by writing and directing a piece of cinema that examines the social temperature in the United States in a post-911 world. At the core of this film is the political issue of immigration, but The Visitor investigates the social, humanistic stripes of that issue using the supporting foreign roles to further develop and evolve the American protagonist. Walter, the film's leading character, is pulled out of his widower slumber by forming relationships with immigrant characters. The investment McCarthy places on his characters and the ways in which the supporting foreign roles impact the American protagonist is the path in which he leads the viewer to recognize the issue. The Visitor fully utilizes the potential of its mise-en-scene to develop Walter's journey in relation to Tarek, Zinab, and Mouna, which is encapsulated through motifs of music and the use of blue colors to describe different types of unity.At the heart of The Visitor is Walter. The film never verbally informs us of significant events in Walter's past, but all the necessary information to understand the plot is implied through the visuals. Walter's past is a key component in understanding how and why he changes during the film after he meets Tarek, Zinab, and Mouna.One of the most invaluable plot devices in The Visitor concerning Walter's characterization is music. He looks to music as something that can cure his soul and bring him closer to a connection, which at first he looks for in his wife's memory. Walter's wife was a very skilled pianist, and Walter, clinging for the company of someone or the comfort of his deceased wife, attempts to learn the piano. His inability to master the instrument leads his piano teacher to tell him that, "Learning an instrument at your age is difficult, " emblematically, this dialogue suggests that learning to play the piano to further connect to his wife is not going to fulfill Walter's loneliness.Once he goes to New York and meets Tarek, Walter begins to show interest in the African street drum, a non- traditional instrument for a conventional American like Walter. Tarek is patient with teaching him, and eventually Walter learns to play the drums comfortably. Forming such a deep friendship with Tarek is atypical for someone Walter's age and ideology, and by learning to play Tarek's drum, this symbolizes Walter adapting to Tarek's culture, growing personally, and becoming happier from that. The first scene in which the awkwardness dissipates between Walter and Tarek is the scene where Tarek offers to teach Walter how to play the drums. Music is the catalyst that brings Walter and Tarek closer together. Once these characters come into Walter's world, the slow, graceful, tranquil beat of classical music is shaken awake by the fervent, noisy, vibrant drums.The Visitor is about the characters relating to one another, and a way in which McCarthy does this is by using a themed color of clothing to describe the unity between Walter and the foreign people he meets in the story. The color blue comes to represent Watler, because in nearly every scene, he appears in a blue dress shirt underneath his suit jackets.The color blue unites Tarek and Walter on a human scale. Tarek is almost exclusively seen in a darker blue, navy shirt. Before he is confined to the correction center and even his uniform in the detention center is the same navy shade of blue. They may not be identically the same, Walter wears a lighter hue of blue than Tarek, but the colors are still blue.The color blue is most notably memorable for being the primary color used in the mural of New York City on the wall in the detention. In this mural is a blue-colored skyline of the city, as well as images of the American flag and the statue of liberty, both of which are items that represent freedom. The flag and statute of liberty however are not painted in blue. Though Tarek is an illegal immigrant and Walter is American, they are both still humans who contribute to the Untied States, which is represented in the non-specific city buildings in the detention center mural, as they are painted in blue. However, Walter has his freedom, Tarek does not. Freedom within the United States is more than just being a human who contributes to society, like the paintings of the Statute of Liberty and the American flag, which represent categorical freedom, use more colors than just blue.A piece of imagery that aptly concludes the investigation into Walter's character development based on the mise-en-scene in The Visitor is the immediate shot on the ferry of Walter with Mouna and Zinab. Closer in the frame are the three characters standing against the railing of the boat, and behind them lies a wide shot of New York City. In this shot, Walter is sailing away from the island with the new people in his life, figuratively leaving the old life behind. The Visitor is a process of personal growth for Walter, which is developed through the mise-en- scene subtly transcribing Walter's past and his evolution to the viewer through subtle clues, the importance of Walter's ability and inability play music, and the use of blue colors to unite characters of different ethnicities.

Walter is a professor at university, but lacks the will to do his job and play piano. One day, he goes his apartment and comes across a black couple who lives in his apartment without permission. Walter and a black man, whose name is Tarek get familiar with each other through a musical instrument which Tarek brings, djembe. This film describes the friendship between two men which was built by a musical instrument and the hard and severe life. I like the music played in this film, especially the music played by djembe because they make me feel good. Also I like not the only the scenes Tarek is playing djembe but also Walter is playing because they plays music very happily as they forget the real life. I recommend everyone to watch this film because I think you may be moved by their friendship and you may be relaxed by their music.

Movie ReviewThe Visitor is a triumphant tragedy that has a very human feel to it. The film offers a full new view on illegal immigration, while following a delicate man find friendship and a renewed intimacy. The movie is full of laughs and cries. It never reveals a dull moment. Each scene is chuck full of emotion and five star acting. The Visitor is a one of a kind heart breaker no one regrets watching. The Visitor, which came out in 2007, was directed by Thomas McCarthy. The main actors are Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, and Hiam Abbass. It got a 7.7/10 stars on IMDb and scored a 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, both being impressive ratings. The movie focuses on the morale dilemma in deporting any and all immigrants. It simultaneously observes a man's yearning for friendships and relationships after his wife passes away. Walter (Richard Jenkins) is a depressed widow who is never happy and constantly searching for company. After leaving his apartment for some time, Walter returns to find that Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira), Tarek's wife, have been living there for the past two months. At first he is scared and uncomfortable with the two visitors, but he has a change of heart and invites them to stay a while, seeing that he enjoys their presence. Through their kindness and Tarek's drumming abilities, Walter becomes good friends with them and picks up music lessons from Tarek. These good times are ruined when Tarek is arrested and put in jail for being an illegal immigrant. When Tarek's mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), shows up and discovers the problem, Walter offers her his apartment just as he did with Tarek and Zainab. She stays for the time and they become very close while trying to get Tarek out of prison with some help from a busy lawyer. Walter even takes her out on a date and they have a great time. Both begin to like each other and they cling to one another. Walter enjoys Mouna's company since he is a widow and Mouna enjoys Walter's hospitality and compassion as she deals with this great trouble. The Visitor captures the time period of these main characters' lives when the are experiencing the best and worst times they have ever witnessed. In one scene, Walter walks in on Tarek practicing the bongos without wearing pants. He apologizes and explains that is how he always use to practice when he was younger. Later in the movie, Walter is practicing the bongos when Zainab walks in on him. He states that Tarek is teaching him. Walter jokes, promising not to take his pants off. Zainab responds with a confused look as if she has no idea what he is talking about. Upon realizing that Tarek did not share that little embarrassing fact with Zainab, Walter shrugs off the joke, refusing to elaborate. This is a moment when Walter feels how nice it is to have a friend. Tarek shared a small detail with Walter that he never shared with his wife. This is a key part in the progress of the friendship between Walter and Tarek. It was the first time in a while that Walter had a warmhearted feeling from being in a friendship. Although small, this part of the movie is a turning point in Walter's life. I strongly recommend this film to anyone who is interested in illegal immigration, the struggles of a widow, or just an overall emotional film. The Visitor really is an eye-opener on illegal immigrants. They have a story too and this film shows it. Not only does it show the other side to green cards, but it exhibits the need humans have for friendships and intimate relationships. This film is educational, emotional, and deep. It can be watched and analyzed over and over again; and that is what makes it such a must see.