What if one day, after realizing that your life is simply static and of no importance to others, you would find strangers squatting in your own apartment and need your help? Would you consider it an opportunity to help other people? This is the story of The Visitor, an American drama film about a widowed man whose life is affected by music and his dealing with other people who are complete strangers (Stein).
Walter Vale, the protagonist in the film, is an economics professor who has conceded that his life has no meaning and pretends that he is busy and working, but in reality he is not doing anything worthwhile.
A widowed man already in his prime years, Walter struggles to learn piano to try to be like his late wife who was a classical concert pianist. Since the death of his beloved wife, music has become his obsession.
But all of these have changed when he discovered a young unmarried couple who live in his Manhattan apartment, having rented it from a fraud who declared it was his.
Walter feels that he has the moral obligation to help and offer his place to this couple who are both illegal immigrants. Tarek, a djembe player, is from Syria, while Zainad, a designer of ethnic jewelry, is from Senegal. Over a short span of time, a friendship between them slowly develops. The turning point of Walter’s life comes when he is taught by Tarek to play djembe, a skin-covered hand-drum to be played with bare hands.
Instantly, Walter, who spent the rest of his life trying to embrace music, falls in love with Tarek’s kind of music, and this develops his friendship with the latter whom he considers as no longer a total stranger. But things changed again when Tarek is mistakenly accused of evading payment for his subway fare and is taken to a confinement center for illegal immigrants.
Here, Walter subconsciously discovers that he has still a purpose in life. After living in almost total stagnation, Walter finds out that his life is still meaningful and that he has to do all what he can to help Tarek who is in danger of deportation. While in detention, Tarek tells Vale that he only wanted to live his life with his music. This particular scene is full of meaning, wherein it shows two individuals having different views of life and driven by diverse purpose. Tarek, an illegal immigrant, wants to live and stay in the United States where he develop and share his musical talent. On the other hand, Walter, who spent several years drifting, finally finds the meaning of his existence.
The movie tells us that somehow God is in the details— that there are events and moments in our lives that serve as our personal vehicle of change or our source of inspiration to live. It also shows that music can be an essential part of our lives. But music is simply a tool which gives meaning to man’s existence. In the beginning of the movie, Vale simply finds solace in music, as he tries to emulate his late wife. He simply views music as a static abstraction and something that is part of his solitary existence.
However, Walter’s view of music changed when he met Tarek, who taught him how to play the drum. This time Walter now understands that music is a dynamic abstraction that can fuel man to have a purpose in life and to see the meaning of life. The most dramatic scenes of the film show that music has intimate relation with humanity. In the area of philosophy, man’s purpose is not simply to live his life but to help other people as well. But to live is not the same as the fear of death. Walter manages to live his life for the sake of living and without thinking that his life still has meaning and is important to others.
The film starts and closes with Vale playing music to show how music became part of his life and his ups and downs. There are things in the world that inspires us to live, and one of them is music. On the part of Tarek, his kind of music brought him to the United States, a place full of opportunities where he can enhance and share his artistic talent. Music inspires him to live. On the part of Walter, music serves as his inspiration and motivation to help other people and that it gives him a new meaning of life—that life is not simply to live, but also to share and can be an instrument to help other people.
What the film tries to suggest is that man’s desire to help others is universal—that man is to help regardless of language, ethnicity, and religion. Man’s purpose in life and his nature as a social being are part of the 20th Century philosophy (Copleston 202).
The idea that the film presents is that we usually go through our lives without knowing who we are and appreciating the importance of our existence until we perceive ourselves through the eyes of others. There are times that we find our purpose in our dealing with other people, particularly those who give meaning to our lives. Helping is not a means of giving away of virtues but of gaining them. We may spend time, effort and even financial resources whenever we help others, but what we do not notice and observe is that the more we strive to help other people the more we discover our purpose and understand the meaning of our lives.
The film is indeed a creative and artistic approach in presenting various issues of illegal immigration. But the case of Tarek usually happens in reality. There are talented immigrants who are not given the chance to share and improve their talents and skills in their country of choice because of false charges and discrimination. These kinds of immigrants should be encouraged to stay and develop their skills in the United States. To convey its message, the film used subtle and dramatic details to suggest meaning.
In the end, Walter is alone once again, and the music now merely serves as his memory of a good friendship that should have lasted forever. After regaining his virtues and discovering his purpose in life, the people who remind him of his worth and became part of his existence were deported back to their country of origin. Walter is a different man in the end, as he is again confined to his room playing music that reminds of the essence of his life.
It can be said that the deportation of Tarek and the decision of his mother Mouna, also an illegal immigrant, to go back to Syria, changed Walter for the worse. It is the deportation of Tarek and all the subsequent events that brought so much despair to Walter. For the first time since the death of his wife, Walter realized that his life is still worth living. For the first time he did all his best to save Tarek from the false accusation against him and from possible deportation. He knows that Tarek is innocent and deserves to stay in the United States. These experiences indeed impacted Walter’s life forever.
Works Cited:
Copleston, Frederick. A History of Philosophy. London: Continuun International Publishing
Group, 2003
Stein, Ruthe. “Movie Revie: Professor Finds Heart in Drums.” 18 April 2008. The San
Francisco Chronicle. 30 July 2009 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/18/DD6S107C8H.DTL>.
The Visitor. Dir. Thomas McCarthy. Perf. Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai
Gurira and Hiam Abbas. 2008. DVD. Overture Films, 2008.
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