Traitor

I hadn't heard much about this movie, so I'm guessing you may not have either. And that is just wrong. This is a wonderful espionage/thriller without the venomously blatant anti-Muslim sentiment that is so very popular -- and blanketly destructive -- these days.

[When I was a child, I wanted very much to visit the USSR because I just would not believe the popular contention that an entire country's (or consortium of countries') citizens could be bloodthirstily evil, down to their last baby. I saw on old Jimmy Stewart movie once where government agents "correctly" identified a communist because "he didn't attend church on Sunday." I wasn't going to believe in this unilateral evil until I saw it for myself. I wasn't willing to blindly tow such an ethnocentric line, and hate people I knew little about and never met. Especially because those who were asserting that I should hate all of USSR's citizens because they hate all of us were wholly and completely oblivious to the hypocrisy of that statement. Not exactly the type of people who I would take at their word.]

Muslims are the new Communists -- I know that's not news to any of you -- and as such they are a popular short-cut for movie makers who wish to have an instantly recognizable and feared enemy to oppose their protagonists (The Kingdom, anyone?). But this movie takes the instantly recognizable and exposes the folly of our assumption of what we actually think we are recognizing here. I hope people see this movie and really hear what it is saying. [If the chicken-littles of the world crying that Muslims will bring the sky down actually crunched the numbers, they'd probably have to conclude that the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition and Salem witch hunts -- just to name a few of Christianity's biggest hits -- have killed more innocent people in the name of their God than Muslims have to date. We've "forgiven" Christians this transgression, however, by accepting that those who were responsible for such atrocities were extremists warping their religion's doctrine to their own fanatical whims. A case of withholding from the goose what we've offered to the gander, perhaps? But then, as the old joke goes, "statistics can be manipulated to prove any point the researchers wish: 67 percent of people know that". And, hypocrites rarely let technicalities like proof and logic get in the way of their hystrionics.]

But I digress on my own fanatical whims. As a movie, this one was compelling. Characters you care about. Escalating action and stakes. Drama, conflict, subterfuge, regrets, passion and sacrifice. See it and open your eyes, or just see it and enjoy your eyes. Verdict: First Run Theatre. Go Now!