He just, he just stands there. His hands close to his legs. His head slightly tilted. He just stands there. The woman he loves leaves back to her home country, Syria. She follows her son who is deported. And he stands. The airport is just a place painted in grey, as is the sky, and the sound. Everything except his faint attempt of a smile somewhere deep inside there. He just stands.
He is Walter Vale (portrayed by Richard Jenkins), and economics professor in Connecticut and widower. This is the tale: Walter needs to go to New York to give a presentation. As he enters his old New York apartment (from his happier days of marriage) he finds Tarek and Zainab – two illegal immigrants. Walter befriends Tarek who gives him djembe lessons. Tarek is caught and held in a detention center. Tarek’s mother Mousa comes to support him. She and Walter end up caring for each other deeply. One day, Tarek is been deported. Mousa follows. Walter is alone again.
That’s it. It’s politically edgy, it is though provoking on moral and social issues.And it is a charming portrait of human care. But there is more. And it’s all about Walter. And the way he just stands there.
Richard Jenkins is amazing in his performance; charismatic, intelligent and elegant. The movie appears to follow the somewhat corny story-line of the grumpy old man who rediscovers life and ends up happy. It appears that way. And the movie would have been characterless and predictable (which it is to some extend – predictable that is). But this is not the story. Because Walter Vale is not empty in the beginning. He is not grumpy. He is lost. And. He has so much love.
Walter Vale has so much love to give. But his wife died and with her the focus of his care and overwhelming tenderness and love. It is a very important difference with the other reading of the script. The piano lessons he takes; a sure sign of his struggle with the mind and moreover a way of trying to reach his former spouse (who was a professional piano player). The djembe as a rhythm of his heart. Mousa. But it is not filling him. They are a channel for his love not the roots of it. The roots are within Walter. And we learn not how, or why. But we understand. Because we know Walter. Almost without explanation, Walter gave himself.
How an actor can almost play the concept of love is a mystery to me. But I am thankful I saw Jenkins do it. He gives magic back to acting. Not method. Not theory. Magic.
Bas
