Monday, September 08, 2008

Captain Abu Raed - My Two Pesos



This post is about one-year old, but it's always good to talk about the things you're proud of, and I'm proud of this movie. After half a century a Jordanian wrote and directed a Jordanian movie, with a Jordanian cast, and he shot it in Jordan, with a story focusing on Jordanian issues and problem(s). He represented Jordan and he brought Jordan's name to film festival we were never part of.

The film got several reviews from well-known critics and they were all positive. Make no mistake, these critics never hesitated to harshly criticize Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese if they didn't like one of their particular movies. The movie was part of dozens of international festivals this year, and is Jordan's submission to the Oscars (which brings the question: Has Jordan ever submitted a movie to be nominated for an Oscar?)
Imagine a Jordanian baseball or ice-hockey team touring around the world and scoring one victory, that's exactly the story with this movie. Amin Matalqa has started something really good that I hope will inspire a few Jordanians into writing, acting or directing movies of similar or even better quality. I will not review the movie because I'm not a movie critic and will not pretend to, and secondly because my opinion will not be objective. I am so biased, and I'm telling you: watch this movie. It's very very good.

In Summary:
WINNER - 2008
Winner - Sundance Film Festival, World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic
Winner - Seattle International Film Festival, Best Director
Winner - Traverse City Film Festival, Best of the Fest Jury Award
Winner - Traverse City Film Festival, Audience Award
Winner - Maui Film Festival - Best Narrative Feature, World Cinema
Winner - Durban International Film Festival - Best First Feature
Winner - Newport Beach Film Festival - Best Actor
Winner - Newport Beach Film Festival - Best Actress
Winner - Dubai International Film Festival - Best Actor
And about ten more participation in festivals soon.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved the trailer! But where can I watch the movie? :(

Sharkooseh said...

oooh 3n jad this is so nice and the guy is hot! :P

and me too want to know where can i watch the movie?

Sharkooseh said...

well.... ur proud but am ashamed coz i didnt know about this movie till now!

Waed S. said...

Wow !
it got all those awards!!
I didn't watch this film coz frankly I didn't find it tempting enough to watch but after knowing all this I guess might watch it ! after all its jordanian :P

Anonymous said...

amin matalqa'a biggest enemy is his dishonesty and all this stuff about being first this and first that. he is like a little kid who wants to steal other kids' toys. he needs to grow up before he earns respect. but i can't blame him. honesty is something you don't learn in film college. it is thought by parents and school.

NasEr said...

why won't they put it online tayyeb :/ we wanna watch :/ somebody steal it please :o

Anonymous said...

Faris, how did you watch it? I've been dying to see it bass mish 3arfeh min wein ajeebo! :@

Hareega said...

Hey guys, to watch it you either had to watch it in the cinema (amman, Beirut, Kuwait) or watch it in one of the festivals it' going to be shown at (LA, San Francisco, Vancouver)
here's the movie's website it can be helpeful: http://www.captainaburaed.com/

Probably will be released on DVD sometime , but not sure when exactly.

Safi... I'm not sure what do you mean by dishonesty, he truly was the first to do this and this. For some reason many people are trying to underestimate his achievement. I know he didn't win the Oscar but he really did something no other Jordanian has ever done in this field.

Anonymous said...

hareega, how can you say that. even the royal film commission had a screening a couple of weekes ago for jordanian cinema pioneers. of those, the feature film Struggle in Jarash (1956) was screened and a surviving members of the cast and cast was recognized. and the Jordanian feature film Oriental Tale (1981) was also screened and the screenwriter recognized. and for you to still insist on endorsing a lie is very telling of how worthless truth has become in westernized Jordanian society. don't know why. frankly, i have traveled to so many places but i have never witnessed as much dishonesty as in Jordan. the government lies. people lie. it's is one big lie fest.

Hareega said...

khartoosh... I hope you won't label me az zionist too. How can you extrapoltae such judgements based on one fact. Struggle in where?? 1956?? So how about something in the past 50 years. It's the first time I've heard of Oriental Tale, it's a good thing if it was a real movie but it truly didn't achieve something on the international level.
The producer of the movie mentioned it was the first Jordanian movie in fifty years, so it acknolweged Sturuggle In Jarash...

البنت الشلبيه said...

congrats,,good to know that n hope to see the movie.