Captain Abu Raed (2009)

I love Captain Abu Raed and the love he has in his heart for everyone around him. He helps everyone and never expects anything in return. His character is beautifully written and you learn so much about him and you can see how his past helps to shape him as a person and his actions. I feel like the character of Abu Raed is a person who everyone wishes that they had in their life. He is that amazing. You NEED to watch this movie. It is amazing. Everything about this movie is amazing. The actors, the setting, the story, the characters, the dialogue --- EVERYTHING. WATCH IT. <3 <3 <3

i agree with most of the comments here about the director. the movie is slow for my taste and does not really develop or set grounds until half is over. good acting though and good cinematography. some will argue about the music, i liked the classical orchestra touch, i think it does add an interesting dimension to the film.however, the story is not well developed and it seems the director is having an ego issue with being the new messiah of jordan. lame how he steps over so many other great productions and directors.good learning curve though for him though :) i hope to see more developed stories from matalqa in the future.

I had the privilege of seeing Captain Abu Raed at Ohio State (Matalqa's alma mater) with the director present. It was moving to hear the stories of the children actors and their struggles thus far in life. Matalqa also commented about how religion and terror and anything else you usually associate with the middle east is absent in this movie, which is one of the first reactions I got by the end of the movie. It's nice to see a movie not trying to plug in some political statement where it's not needed.Captain Abu Raed had a great premise, with an aging janitor pretending to be a pilot and telling neighborhood kids about his "grand adventures." The cinematography was wonderful, and the music added emotional depth. The acting was convincing overall, with the leads impressively not being too impressive (they acted like ordinary people). My biggest complaint is the pacing. It felt like there were two halves of the movie that were completely different from each other, like the second half was almost a sequel to the first. This gave the movie a somewhat uneven feeling, but overall I'd say it didn't substantially take away from the finished product. There were some subplots that I would've liked further developed, but that would probably have added to the unevenness.Overall, a good first film, maybe a few steps from greatness, and I look forward to Amin Matalqa's future endeavors.

I went to see the film just out of curiosity. I was in for a surprise - a rather pleasant one. This is a great movie from many a viewpoint. The actors, the subject, the photography, the editing and the atmosphere. Looking at it as the first Jordanian feature film (even though many of those who worked on it are not Jordanian) I find it truly great. Looking at it globally, as an international film, I still find it well above average - much better anyway than many low grade Hollywood movies. I only have two regrets. The film would have had an even greater impact if it was some 20 or 25 minutes shorter. The music: although beautiful, well interpreted and recorded, it does not seem very appropriate for such an intimate film; by moments at least. It seems to have been composed for some kind of huge, mega production the likes of Gladiator or Troy and such. Other than that it is, again, a very fine movie and I truly enjoyed it.