The Visitor
Director: Thomas McCarthy
Writer: Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, Hiam Abbass.
Professor Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) exudes propriety but an early succession of visits reveal that he is an ungenerous and indolent academic cosseted within his privileged position. Jenkins plays well the power position that franchised white men can be effortlessly heir to, be they in mourning, in midlife crisis or simply socially inept.
While living and working in Connecticut, Walter also has an apartment in New York to which he now returns to attend a conference on Globalisation. On entering his apartment Walter is confronted by a dark skinned couple who behave towards him as they would an intruder. They, a Syrian man, Tarek Khalil (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese partner, Zainab (Danai Jekesai Gurira), are victims of a scam and believe they have legitimately rented the apartment. This almost unbelievable situation affords Walter the momentary circumstance of being an interloper in his own home; an intriguing directorial cleverness. But quickly he is master once more and the vulnerable and now apologetic couple are invited to stay till they find further accommodation.
Walter's dull and lifeless world is strikingly juxtaposed alongside the vibrancy of this couple and the world they inhabit. Tarek who is a drummer begins to give Walter lessons and Zainab cooks exotic meals.
The enforcement of immigration law in the United States intensified post 9/11. A simple twist of fate exposes the couple's real situation and darkness descends. Walter attempts to help his new-found friends but to no avail.
The Kafkaesque face of authority can be ugly and is best avoided. This film is an opportunity to observe it at a distance and to consider whether or not we are indeed "helpless children."
Lou Crow
