I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2008. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”
Raed is an elderly, Jordanian man who seems to be a simple janitor at an airport. But things change for him when he finds a discarded Captain’s hat that he wears home. The neighborhood children promote him to a world savy pilot and he promotes himself to being an excellent and imaginative storyteller.
But Raed is not a simple man. We slowly find out that he is wise and well read. And, he has suffered tragedies in his life that would break most men and make them bitter. Raed resists being morose and adds positively to the world around him. He is kind to strangers, he mentors children with exploitive parents, and he makes other’s lives easier and more fun.
But this wouldn’t be much of a story if there weren’t a strong conflict. Next door to Raed there is a family dominated by a husband and father who is a wife-beater, child-beater, and drunk. What can an old man do to help?
It reminds one of the quote – “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Raed is a good man of courage and sacrifice. He does something.
FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.
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