Captain Abu Raed

I saw coming attractions for this film when I watched Hedgehog, and took it out. I did not know quite what to expect, and I was impressed by the film. It's a great little story: a janitor in  Queen Alia International Airport in Amman finds a captain's hat, takes it home, is seen wearing it by a kid who, in turn, asks him to tell him stories about his travels; at first he refuses, but is worn down by a gaggle of kids who insist on hearing his stories; he fabricates them from pieces of knowledge he has, and in the process fascinates them and himself; one other kid, Murad, is a skeptic, and deliberately breaks the spell the Captain has woven by showing three of his admirers that he is not an airliner pilot but a janitor; that boy is abused by his drunken father, who also physically abuses his wife; the Captain liberates the family form the drunkard's abuse with the help of Nour, a thirtyish female pilot who is being pressured by her father to marry, who befriends him, and, in turn, looks to him for company and guidance.

One technique that I liked was that, in scenes that build to an apotheosis, the actual act is not shown, but implied. Such a scene is when the drunkard father is going to teach his son Murad a lesson by burning his hand, the actual burning is not shown; the scene builds up with such tension that it is unnecessary to show the act itself. Hollywood does not do that; it would have shown the burning in excruciating detail.

Excellent film.

Body of lies

Film based on novel by David Ignatius. Glad I  had it; had started to watch Is Anybody There? with Michael Caine, which I turned off.

This one was an action-packed political thriller: a CIA man on the ground in Iraq is chasing bad guys, makes an important find, and is rescued from terrible death by black helicopters who thwack two SUVs filled with bad guys weilding rocket-propelled grenade launchers (one is launched, but hits the CIA-man's vehicle, which rolls over and pins him and his aide-de-camp; he, Roger Ferris, is rescued by US helicopter crew who jump out of the chopper and throw him into the bird, which flies away and takes him to a hospital). In turn, he is being tracked by satellites controlled from back in the US, and the choppers are given orders by those same remote sources.

If the technology is indeed that good, it is a wonder the US in not doing better. Then again, the movie makes the point, through the person of Roger Ferris, that the bad guys communicate person-to-person and in code, and that high technology is the wrong weapon to wield in combating them.

Leonardo DiCaprio does an excellent job. He is a fine actor. Russell Crowe does a good job playing a stomach-bulging, ethics-free, CIA desk man. A good supporting cast.


Jordan's spies come off looking pretty good. That made me think about Jordan; it seems clear, now, that Jordan must have very good spies and secret forces, surviving wedged in between Syria (to its north), Iraq (east), Saudi Arabia (southeast), and Israel (west). Its only outlet to water is to the Gulf of Aqaba.



In the book, after the dedication and author's note, there is a quote from The man who never was. With a foreword by Lord Ismay about deceiving one's enemy. Fascinating. Inside the book Operation Mincemeat is dicussed by Ferris and Hoffman.