I have been brought up as a Muslim, not in the USA. I've lived in the States only the last three years. I don't know what the atmosphere was pre-9/11, but I was shocked by what the movie portrayed.
A substitute teacher is unable to pronounce Tariq's name, and when he tells her the correct pronunciation she challenges the spelling and claims it is not in "correct English". Then all the kids in the class laugh about the fact that it's not an English name, but a Muslim name. It shocks me to see this type of behavior, because it is completely contrary to what I have seen at college. Our teachers ask us how to pronounce our names if they're not sure, and the students here are even more tolerant of different names and different cultures than I am. (Yes, I have my prejudices towards certain accents, and certain behavioral patterns, but the Americans I've met tend to respect what is foreign because they know that they can't understand a different culture in an American context.)
I was disappointed with the movie when some of the white characters were making such racist comments. If anyone at my college said stuff like that about immigrants, I feel like people would think he is out of his mind. ("I think when people come to America, they should learn the language and learn the religion of this country." He also called some Indian language "jibber-jabber".)
I was disappointed with the secondary characters - especially the Muslim roommate and his intended. Seriously? Isn't that being stereotypical? Just because he's Pakistani (at least I think he was based on the language he was speaking with his parents, but then again I don't speak Urdu, so I wouldn't know) the movie is showing him as already engaged?
Then again in the classroom, when the white boys were slandering immigrants, why was it only the Muslim girl who was arguing back? Why was it only her who was portrayed as "smart" and "enlightened" and the white boys as "narrow-minded" and "racist"?
Other than these issues, I was impressed with the movie. The lead characters delivered splendid performances, the movie has me hooked to find out what was the back-story of Tariq which caused him to be so antagonistic towards his religion, and by the time 9/11 started, I was completely engrossed in it. The secondary characters weren't all stereotypical and they took chances with how they portrayed them (there were several characters who weren't either black or white and there were several shades of grey.)
Regarding the reactions of the populace to 9/11 and their behavior towards Muslims, I was completely shocked that people would hit random Muslims on the head, and go out with sticks and try to beat up Muslim girls. (At least one white character was redeemed here when he told his friends that he didn't want to beat up people for revenge because "what is terrorism after all"? Thank goodness for that.) Then again, I know nothing about what it was like for Muslims in American back then.
Overall, it was a good film. I'm glad that a film has been made about Muslim issues and with a Muslim main character, but I really wish they had left the stereotypes out.
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