Poster of The Citizen

The Citizen

Drama

Director: Sam Kadi

Release Date: September 27, 2013

Where to Watch

The Citizen is an independent film that should have been a Sunday night tv movie on CBS, but because it addresses prejudice faced by Arab-Americans and Arab immigrants after 9/11, somehow it becomes edgy. Unfortunately I think that says more negative about the American cultural landscape than The Citizen, a mainstream movie. The Citizen focuses on Ibrahim, who arrives in the US on 9/10. Dun dun dun! He is literally the nicest guy on earth-ridiculously so. When the plot had him helping a random hot chick hide from her abusive boyfriend, I thought that I accidentally turned on Lifetime. It also reminded me of Christian films where everyone is genial, connected and the lesson is if you do good things, good things will happen although things may seem really difficult. The Citizen uses the trial trope, which I hate, where all his prior actions and suffered injustices are regurgitated in a trial setting, and hurrah, the court vindicates the character. The US is great. The American dream is real and attainable by anyone. It is all very sweet and hopeful, but mostly unrealistic. I enjoyed it, but can I get a middle ground story where it isn’t hunky dory and also not angst ridden and gritty. Oh yeah. That film is called Amreeka, and though not angst ridden, Amreeka is still pretty depressing. If you decide to check out The Citizen, just don’t expect a lot more than an ultimately feel good, optimistic movie with a dash of adversity.

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