UnbreakableMJ0

Reading twenty reviews or so, to see if this is worth watching or not, but I found them unhelpful. They all seem to be written by people close to the cast and/or crew. To give you an idea of what you're getting into, this movie is mostly dialog and little action. The storyline is about a guy who finds out his best friend has been sleeping with his girlfriend, thus taking him into a duel like it's the wild west!! It did not make sense even after I finished watching. You wonder why can't men resolve their differences in civil manner, or is that intentional propaganda? I'm all for independent filmmaking and do recognize the effort here. Budget-wise, it's a good production. Dialog is engaging, but it's nothing exceptional. I loved Patrick Warburton's performance. Would I recommend it to someone like me? Probably not. I'd skip it. But if you just wanted to pass time, it wouldn't be a total waste. There's great attempt from the filmmakers to make quality production here, from the writing, to the acting and cinematography. Therefore, I'm not giving it a rating lower than 5/10.

I can't really describe in words what I have in mind right now after seeing this beautiful documentary by Michael Moore. I find it very brave for a filmmaker to go and do such a good job in a documentary that might cost them their own life in a country that claims having freedom above all. I also find it great how Moore manages and expresses his own point of view, while others criticize him for having one. I guess many people cannot handle the truth especially now days. Many of those who criticize this filmmaker's point of view should consider thinking about this movie with an open mind. Just focus on the subject and forget how much you agree or disagree with Moore. How about this film as a documentary? Is it good? Is it bad? So how bad is it? Actually I might disagree about some of the points raised by this movie but that's deep inside my head and it was meant to be raised. You're free to think. It's actually much better if we do think. And to tell you the truth, my life was shocked few hours ago and this shock still affecting me.

Ignoring the technical details in my review for now and focusing on the emotional side I got. This documentary kept me interested minute by minute and second by second. I loved the way music was used. I also noticed something else about me there in the dark room (cinema theatre that is), and what I noticed was being touched as a human much more than focusing on the technical stuff as an amateur movie critic. I guess the beauty about Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) is that it was meant to make us think, feel, raise questions, and mostly know (or get closer to) the truth in a positive way that might change your life.

Sometimes it is political and sometimes comic. It's even sentimental few times, but thought provoking after all and trying to stay as close to the absolute real truth as possible. Reminded me of Oliver Stone's daring, brave, great masterpiece that is JFK (1991) in many ways. I note here that both of them had great masterwork of editing using materials which we all surely saw on TV here or there and it involves conspiracy too.

In short: Important piece of work that needs to be seen by everybody (despite what MPAA says).

10/10

Bassam Al-Thawadi had made Bahrain's first feature film. The movie is his second effort after Hajiz, al- (1990) and this one is a production of Bahrain Cinema Company.

The movie stars Fatima Abdulrahim as Fatima, and she's trying her best to act here. Fatima has a vision hunting her for a long time. We get involved more and more with her while we get closer and closer to the story. The movie is about 87 min. which may be short but again it was maybe more than enough for the movie and the story to be told. Bassam Al-Thawadi's seems to be more of a nice storyteller than being a director. He wrote the story of the movie (as well as the script along with Fareed Ramadan) which is a good thing to have a movie written and directed by the same filmmaker.

Ali Al-Gurair plays the character of Ali, who is the ex-husband of Fatima and a work partner, as both works in the TV with the director Bassam Al-Thawadi giving a very nice cameo appearance as the boss of TV. Ali Al-Gurair was good as usual, funny as usual or maybe this time a little more above than that, and tried hard to stay in the character the whole time.

Ahmed Mubarak is a real highlight point in this movie, playing the character of Ahmed, as it shows he was the real supporting acting engine. He might have some over-the-top points, but along with the other performances, it made the movie so funny. You can't hold it not laughing at least few times during this movie, as my favorite joke involves the beautiful great actress Nicole Kidman!

The cast is very short to not mention, including some more cameos and few other actors like Ahmed Aqlan playing the character of Khalid, the brother of Ahmed. He gives a very average performance but his drug-addicted friend Ameen, played by Ameen Al-Sayiq, was an above average performance. I don't know enough about saving the best things for last, but that's what I'm about to do. Juma'an Al-Rowayai was the best performance in the movie. He's gifted and he proves it everytime he gets a chance lately.

The Cinematography was good in many ways, which Ahmed Al-Thawadi takes credit for, as it helped the movie to be more of a thriller. I definitely wished for better and costly cameras to give more to the movie, but that doesn't mean that this one was bad in anyway.

What was the main center of many conversations is that this movie used Dolby sound technology which helped giving the atmosphere to the movie.

The movie's highest point is probably the score done by Nawaf Kamal, I guess, if I remembered the credits correctly. It was a bit short, and most of the time the director depended on the silence and special sound effects instead of the music to develop his thriller.

Visitor (2004) means alot to every Bahraini. Maybe even so every Arabic filmmaker since it may give the green light for many other projects, or may mean more dieing hopes. I wouldn't like it much if compared to the best movies of the genre or the greatest movies of all time. But after all, this movie meant another positive step bringing us closer to our film dream, and that what it meant to me. So thank you Bassam Al-Thawadi.

5/10