I was watching another movie when this rolled up on cable and I saw some of the cast and the title and thought, well lets give it a shot.
Freely I have to admit I was expecting something a bit lighter more of a younger take on being Muslim at a college in America, and the impact 911 had on all Americans Muslim and non-Muslim.
T or Tariq was played magnificently as a young man who is questioning his faith and all the supporting characters were interesting, purposeful ,and well written, but the most impactful was Tariq's mother portrayed by Nia Long. She was strong in all the right ways that it made it feel true and honest like a real Muslim mother.
Now I know how I felt when 9-11 happened and realistically I knew it had to be harder on the Muslim Americans (which I still think people oftimes forget, they are both Muslim and American). The horror and pain they felt was as real and deep as all of ours, if not even more so knowing that people had done this in the name of their faith, which does not preach such violence.
The real beauty of this film is that it does not try to preach or point fingers or say who's wrong and who's right, but show that we have more in common than we think, and we all can be hurt by the same things.
This film is so well done and moving if you have not seen it you must.
Freely I have to admit I was expecting something a bit lighter more of a younger take on being Muslim at a college in America, and the impact 911 had on all Americans Muslim and non-Muslim.
T or Tariq was played magnificently as a young man who is questioning his faith and all the supporting characters were interesting, purposeful ,and well written, but the most impactful was Tariq's mother portrayed by Nia Long. She was strong in all the right ways that it made it feel true and honest like a real Muslim mother.
Now I know how I felt when 9-11 happened and realistically I knew it had to be harder on the Muslim Americans (which I still think people oftimes forget, they are both Muslim and American). The horror and pain they felt was as real and deep as all of ours, if not even more so knowing that people had done this in the name of their faith, which does not preach such violence.
The real beauty of this film is that it does not try to preach or point fingers or say who's wrong and who's right, but show that we have more in common than we think, and we all can be hurt by the same things.
This film is so well done and moving if you have not seen it you must.