Views on Race, Humanity Deliver in Towelhead
Novel by Alicia Erian Packs Equally Potent Punch on Film
Towelhead is a story that deals with racism and sexual maturation through a unique microscope. Following young Jasira (Summer Bishil) and her coming-of-age journey from an uncaring, selfish mother, to a violent, yet concerned father, it deals with a girl trying to become a woman in the United States while still enslaved to the conflicting values of her native culture.
A Unique Perspective
Set in Texas against the backdrop of the first Gulf War, the lens with which director Alan Ball films this sometimes funny, often disturbing film shines a light on the prejudices of not just white Anglo-Saxon Americans, but also of the Arab world itself.
Jasira’s father, Rifat, is a fierce man, concerned for both his daughter and what the world outside says of him. He is played with unflinching intensity and, ultimately, compassion by Lebanese actor Peter Macdissi.
One of the greatest hang-ups with Jasira, a young woman who wants so desperately to be comfortable in her skin, that Rifat possesses is the affection she feels for an oversexed African-American classmate.
Rifat feels that people will see them together, and it will be difficult for the world to ever take her seriously. He has been so tuned in to the prejudices of the culture he’s adopted that he becomes the equivalent of an old-fashioned beer guzzling father circa Alabama 1965.
Rifat is also not opposed to abusing his daughter with hard slaps to the face and forceful punches against her thighs. He leaves bruises on her body and spirit, but she loves him, and hard as it is to believe, he reciprocates.
Humanizing Inhuman Behaviors
The relationship between Jasira and Rifat is a great example of what the film Towelhead does so well. It manages to create sympathy where more two-dimensional entertainment fails to do so. Perhaps, one thinks, where none should exist.
But it’s there and undeniable.
Regardless of what you feel toward the moral coding of the characters, there is a bit of you in everyone dramatized from the Alicia Erian novel. Even the perverted middle-aged man living next door (played by Aaron Eckhart) comes across as a man not without virtue.
But as is the case with all people, virtue does not always override their worst qualities. Most bad people carry in them some good. Towelhead understands this, and as such, is sure to cause controversy.
It’s not always an easy film to watch based on content, but for a terrific ensemble, solid writing and direction, it belongs near the head of the pack.
Notes
For more on the film Towelhead, visit IMDB.
To read an interview on the craft of fiction writing with Towelhead author Alicia Erian, visit About.com.
Alicia Erian, author of Towelhead
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