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Towelhead

Movie Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B

The title here is somewhat misleading. At first glance, it seems like it would be about a Middle Eastern girl coping with issues revolving around her race. That has some part in this, but we get a focus mostly on a teen-aged girl who is coping with her budding sexuality and all the confusion and problems she faces. Her being Middle Eastern just added difficulty in living with traditional values.

Jasira (Summer Bishil) is thirteen years old when there is an "incident" between her and her mother's boyfriend, and her mother forces her to live with her cold, old- fashioned father Rifat (Peter Macdissi). This coming-of-age story at no point backs away from giving us everything straight forward, with Jasira having first discovering sexuality through pornographic magazines, getting her period, and all the way down to being molested by her neighbor Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart). It might be hard to watch Aaron Eckhart after this one, but I have moved passed Patrick Wilson's pedophilia in Hard Candy so there is still hope.

As awkward as the film is at times, it manages to pull everything off with a sense of dignity and never gets trashy. It wouldn't have been half the film that it was without these extremely uncomfortable scenes because of the subject matter. Just saying that our heroin is molested is one thing, but to actually show the act is another entirely and the way it was done really makes the audience feel for the characters so much more. The way they handle the character of Mr. Vuoso is actually somewhat unique because he isn't portrayed as some sort of monster. There are moments after his disgusting acts where we see that he is still human, and, even though it is objectionable, it makes his persona more realistic.

The only special features we get (that's right, no commentary) is Towelhead: A Community Discussion which was two separate pieces that involved an unedited open discussion with those who had helped in the production of the film about the issues touched upon in this film. (That's pretty wordy.) The feature is actually very surprising as far as the dialog is concerned because it shows people speaking very freely about racism and, like the film itself, it doesn't back away when it seems like it would. Getting the opinions of a variety of people was very interesting.

The problem with these features is that they are on the long side and the lack of editing comes as a double-edged sword. While it allows the audience to know that they aren't missing out on anything, it also makes it very boring at points, specifically when Summer Bishil speaks because she comes off equally timid to the character of Jasira. The most interesting thing about her was

No matter how you decide to interpret the title of Towelhead, the film definitely serves in favor of minorities in America, taking the side of open-mindedness and having a heavy emphasis on not being judgmental. The ideas expressed about sexuality are what really carry the film, and they do so very well. It proved to be very relatable to young teens. The insecurity and confusion are all there, along with some much deeper issues that many teens go through. It even shows an exaggerated form of what parents are going through by having the father as the exact opposite of what a teenage girl needs. I spent about 2/3 of the film uncomfortable, but it really drove its point home.

Movie Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B