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Driving to Zigzigland (2006)

Good First Movie

I saw this movie last night as part of the Alwan Arab Film Festival in New York. The producer was in attendance and he answered questions at the end of the show. He said that it was the first feature for all those involved in the production, and in that sense "Driving to Zigzandland" was a good movie. The story was straightforward without much ups and downs in the storytelling or the events of the movie themselves. A cabdriver is trying to raise a $1000 by driving his cab for 24 hours so he can make a deadline the next morning at 10 when the money is an essential part of his application for a green card. The events that ensue are what a cabdrivers are bound to see at one point or another in their illustrious careers and all the events in the film are actual things that happened with the main character during his work as a cab driver/ actor coming from Jerusalem, Palestine to LA in the hopes of becoming the next Omar Sharif. There were some obvious flows in the plot and the acting was a little amateurish sometimes, but all together the film was good, funny and entertaining as well as eye-opening to what people go through in this country to make a living and how hard it is to be an Arab or a Muslim in the US in the post 9/11 world even for an aspiring actor who seems to be getting auditions only for the role of a Muslim extremist. The scene in the movie where the main character auditions for such a role is really funny and makes fun of all that stereotype casting thing that many actors of Arab or south Asian origins seem to be facing all the time in Hollywood. This is a good movie and is worth the effort to go see it if it ever opens in theater near you or on DVD or TV where it seems to be heading to, according to the producer.