Zeina Durra/ USA/ 90m/ n/c15+
Showing as part of the Glasgow Film Festival @ Cineworld, Feb 19th-20th
When was the last time you saw an Arab character depicted in a film who wasn’t a terrorist? In the book Reel Bad Arabs, Jack Shaheen demonstrates that out of roughly a thousand Hollywood movies from the last hundred or so years depicting Arabs, a mere five percent include positive Arab characters. The movie Arab is typically an evil terrorist, with the Arab woman a mute, oppressed, veiled “bundle of black.” Taken in this context, the title of Zeina Durra’s directorial debut reads like a bit of a rallying cry, yet what we get with The Imperialists Are Still Alive! is a quirky, funny and thought-provoking low budget US indie. Set amongst New York City’s boho arts and fashion set, it follows chic yet politically-engaged conceptual artist Asya (Élodie Bouchez), Parisian born with a multicultural Arab background – a true “citizen of the world” rather than a stereotypical “reel bad Arab.” An old friend of Asya’s goes missing, quietly rumoured to have been sent on a rendition flight. Whether this happened is neither confirmed nor denied, leaving Asya and her friends to speculate – was he mixed up in anything? Perhaps he just went off to Ibiza on a bender? And in post-911 NYC, it leads Asya to wonder if she’s paranoid or if they really are all out to get her.
These are serious political issues, yet what is admirable about Imperialists is its lightness of touch. Thin on plot and lacking any firm resolution, it ambles along from gallery opening to bar to club to studio, creating a well observed character-driven experience. We watch Asya’s relationship with a hunky PhD student from Mexico gradually blossom, which allows yet more humour about racial stereotyping, in particular when Asya’s Mexican cleaning lady warns her off dating him. Imperialists celebrates the NYC melting pot and its freedoms yet subtly highlights how these freedoms could be threatened by US anti-terror policy. There is no sermonising about tolerance here, just a laid-back saunter through the vibrant streets of NYC, which asks important questions without pretending to have all the answers.