Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Ogosmith
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
LSuhr
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
Zoooma
Sundance Audience Winner for World Cinema Dramatic.First feature film made in Jordan in 50 years.A beautiful film about an old and lonely man and his way of finding good in people and helping those around him. One day his world enlarges with new characters who become very important in his life. They give him meaning and everything changes. Subplots trudge along kind of slowly. There could have been more depth and better pacing but what's here on the surface is always engaging. Overall it's a very moving story that is filmed so very well; the lush orchestral score, cinematography and direction are each excellent to outstandingly perfect. Performances by the cast are simple and real, allowing us to get close to these people on the screen, to feel for them and their situations.Through my first 141 movies seen in 2013, this was my 6th Best!8.6 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener
MartinHafer
"Captain Abu Raed" is, according to IMDb, the first full-length movie form Jordan in 50 years! Considering all the nice qualities in this one, I sure hope to see more from the Jordanian film industry--though I fear that few will actually see this film or appreciate the film's finer qualities. Sure, it does NOT have a clear ending and is far from formulaic--but there is a lot to like about the picture.Abu Raed (Nadim Sawalha) is a nice middle-aged man who works as a janitor at the airport in Amman, Jordan. However, he's also very lonely and through the course of this film you see him forge some new relationships. It all begins when Abu Raed discovers a pilot's hat in the trash. He takes it home and a child assumes he's a captain working for the airlines. Considering how he dresses and how he lives in a relatively ordinary part of town, you wonder how the kid could believe this. He even tells the kid he's NOT a pilot. However, the next day, a bunch of kids show up at his house and want to hear about his world travels. Again, he tells them he's not a pilot. However, later he relents and tells them all sorts of stories about his supposed exploits--and regales them with stories of pure fiction. However, he's able to fake it reasonably well because although he's a lowly janitor, he's very smart and reads voraciously. In fact, he even can speak a little French and English. This is how he meets his next friend--a lady pilot, Nour (Rana Sultan). They slowly become friends--and an unlikely friendship it is. Where does all this go? See the film. Just don't be surprised it it goes no where near where you expect! The best thing about this film are the characters, character development and dialog. The story itself has many interesting aspects but for me it's all about the characters and the nice, natural acting. This is a very gentle and sweet film--one that is perfect if you are looking for something different. Just be aware, its ending may leave you a little flat if you demand happy or clear endings.
zahidays
First of all the film Captain Abu Raed is unexceptional. I am also one of those people who have to take into consideration the director behind the film. I am disappointed with Amin Matalqa's reply to a comment by Elia.Mr. Matalqa claims his film is Jordanian because it's 100% Jordanian funded. Does that mean other Jordanian films who were denied funding by local Jordanian sources because they don't have Mr. Matalqa's connections that those films are not Jordanian films? Famous Jordanian director Mahmoud Massad, maker of the award-wining documentary Recycle (winner of Sundance World Cinematography Award) did not receive a penny of support in Jordan. So he won a few funding competitions at the Berlinale World Cinema Fund and San Sebastian. Mr. Matalqa wants to tell us that Mr. Mahmoud Massad's film is not Jordanian. That's fantastic. So all a third world regime has to do is to make laws forbidding funding for filmmakers they don't like and that makes these black-listed films foreign films? I am glad film festivals do not go by Mr. Matalqa's definition of a national film.Then Mr. Matalqa attacks Najdat Anzour's film Oriental Tale (1991) accusing it of not being a Jordanian film because Mr. Anzour is not Jordanian. But the actors and the script and the shooting location are Jordanians. And by the way, Najdat Anzour has the Jordanian passport. That makes him Jordanian as well as Syrian.But even if the film follows the nationality of the filmmaker, does that mean all of Roman Polanski's films are French or Polish? There are other Hollywood filmmakers who are not American. Yet there films classify as Americans. Mr. Matalqa wants to change all of that just for his film's sake and to exclude other Jordanian films and filmmakers from the spot light. Too drastic.Mr. Matalqa claims that because a film is French funded, that it's not Jordanian. That means 90% of films made in the third world are French or German or Italian films? What about countries that can't afford to fund films. What about repressive regimes who ban funding for filmmakers critical of the status quo? It would be a great day for repression if Mr. Matalqa gets his way with his new funding criteria and national identity.As for the Jordanian feature film the Mission (2007), again Mr. Matalqa insults the filmmakers by making fantastic statements as to why his film is still number one. He says "The Mission was filmed in July 2007, one month after Captain Abu Raed" So? it was screened before Captain Abu Raed in Jordan. This must be a new role where the film's year of production is decided by the day the camera starts rolling for the first time."and was never released in cinemas nor festivals." Another bizarre rule Mr. Matalqa invented. Many films screen in art houses and cultural centers and not paid commercial theaters. They still count as films. They still exist. The Mission is a film that was made and screened in Jordan in more than one cultural center under the patronage of royalty. It's a real film."I also understand it was shot with TV video cameras" Again, Mr. Matalqa denigrates the film because of the limited means of the filmmaker. We know of films that had won international acclaim that shot with a simple video camera. That's the whole idea behind Dogme 95 and other film-making schools. Even Oliver Stone used a TV video camera to make some of his great films.Mr. Matalqa is so eager to monopolize the spotlight that he is willing to hurt so many other filmmakers and to change the whole international system by which films are classified and judged. Wouldn't be much easier to make a good film and leave us to decide? I hope Mr. Matalqa changes his stance instead of digging deeper and deeper and offending more and more people.It's all about the quality of the film. So give it a rest Mr. Matalqa.
