Nashville Film Festival 2022: Jacir Takes Something Broken and Fixes It

"Jacir was a beautiful film that felt like a splash of cold water to the face and a long hard look in the mirror."

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The 2022 Nashville Film Festival is well underway at this point. Covering the big event means we get a lot of screeners that come through the ol’ SoBros inbox. When I saw Jacir pop up, I took a look at the trailer and instantly knew that it was something I’d have to make time for. Hopefully, you’re only reading this because you want to read another opinion about the movie after seeing it at its world premiere at TPAC on Friday night. But, if you’re here because you want to see what you missed out on, I can take care of that too. Here is the synopsis courtesy of the Nashville Film Festival:

A gritty drama that explores the life events between Jacir, an orphaned Syrian refugee who settles in a rough neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, and Meryl an opioid addicted ultra conservative shut-in who is fearful of immigrants and minority families in her area. And the unlikely friendship that forms between them.

I found several things from this film deeply moving. Right off the bat, Jacir poses an interesting question – what happens when a refugee leaves a shitty place and ends up in a shittier place? We see that come to a head when Jacir (Malek Rahbani) questions, “land of the free?” Beyond that, it’s an interesting and valid criticism of today’s society in this country – the mud-slinging, the injustice, and the lack of general empathy that has led us to keeping our heads down as if we were instructed to do so by an ICE agent. I found the heart of the circumstances that brought these characters to be quite a profound reminder of what many have to go through just to get by.

From a pure storytelling standpoint, Jacir ran the gamut of emotion and pain. We were introduced to several characters who were broken and bent, dealing with their pain in their own way. In this, Jacir feels like a beacon of light, piercing the darkness that envelopes him and tries to swallow him up. Meryl (Lorraine Bracco) keeps beating this man down, is literally racist to his face, and yet, Jacir is still there for this woman because it’s the right thing to do for his neighbor. Moments after working on the new fence, Jacir tells Nadia (Leila Almas Rose), “I like taking something broken and fixing it.” That was it for me – I heard him say that and thought, “yep – that’s what this whole thing is.” No matter how shattered things become, we have to make the attempt to fix them.

In Jacir’s relationship with Jerome (Tutweezy), there’s a common thread in their ambition and the idea of getting out. Jerome tells Jacir that he’s been in his shoes before, saying he’s felt like he’s had two strikes against him since the day he was born. Yet, no matter their differences, the two bond over the idea that something better awaits them. This friendship also brought with it some moments of humor in the film.

The message and the story weren’t the only thing driving this film though. The performances were extraordinary! Rahbani played Jacir with passion, optimism, and an authenticity that allowed the character to shine as a genuinely good dude dealing with a shit storm of trauma. He made it easy to root for Jacir at every turn. But, the real powerhouse of this one was Bracco, who played the lost soul, Meryl, with a deep sense of heartbreak. She had me bawling by the end of this thing.

I’d also say that Jacir felt like a bit of a love letter to the gritty side of Memphis, Tennessee and blues music in general. Writer and director Waheed AlQawasmi touched on this a bit in a recent Q&A:

Jacir comes for the background of real-life experiences I had immigrating to America! As
a child I thought America was this beautiful land built of milk and honey with towering
buildings everywhere and super hi-tech infrastructure. Landing in Memphis was a bit of a
shock, while still a very beautiful city, it was very small compared to Amman Jordan. It was
very alienating to witness blight, drugs, lack of security as it was very rampant all across
downtown pre-”revitalization”. However, this southern town showed me how to hustle,
create my own path forward with grit and grind, it gave a lot back to me in creative forms.
Jacir was my intent to capture that moment in this city through a refugee’s eye and show
the cast of colorful people that inhabit Memphis.

I don’t know where you’ll be able to see Jacir next, but it’s absolutely worth seeking out. I know I’m not the resident film critic around here, but if I were to dole out a grade, it would pretty easily be a 4/5. I’d love to have this movie in my collection. Jacir shows us the importance of letting go of our preconceived notions of one another, being there for our community, and fixing what is broken no matter what our pain may do to us. On the surface, it’s a simple story about a man trying to adapt to a new life far from home, but when you factor in all of the history and all of the different perspectives we saw, it’s a much deeper criticism of how we treat each other in this country. Oh, and yeah – I’ve been known to get into some trouble because I made friends with a cat. Jacir was a beautiful film that felt like a splash of cold water to the face and a long hard look in the mirror.

For more on the Nashville Film Festival, follow them on Twitter and check out their website here.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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