O Refugiado

I loved the idea of a movie highlighting the weirdness of far Northern, Coastal California. I also loved the notion the fact that our lead escaped one crazy version of human nature (Afghanistan), only to find another crazy version in California of all places.

Not that much happens. But the lead guy was mesmerizingly good in his portrayal of an awkward, deeply sensitive, almost dorky newcomer to a country and town that he doesn't understand at all.

He's so earnest in wanting to fit in and be hip. But he's in way over his head. Small rural communities have long histories, and in the case of this place, exceedingly weird ones. He hasn't been there long enough to understand the complexity. Yet you really feel for his dilemma. He wants to get a life and a profession, and do something meaningful. He's itching for it.

Melissa Leo is great as the mother of an old friend of our lead. She's an unemotional deputy sheriff, but also a mother and woman. She comes off very natural.

The opening is extremely weird, yet quite effective, because a bizarre stage play leads our main character to view it as "very free and very American." by virtue of its' weirdness.

James Franco is overexposed. I couldn't buy him as the weird town slacker, because I just kept thinking, "Oh that's just James Franco." He was probably miscast anyways.

Nevertheless, I liked it for its originality, and I don't regret watching. But beware for some violence. I could have done without it.

I love weird , interesting 'indie' films that most people dislike but this was a real mess. I went in with an open mind, and little to no expectations and ending up getting nothing out of this. I even read several explanations of what the film meant, what it portrayed but felt completely clueless to why anyone would want to watch this. Bizarre and disconnected

Most stupid, Insignificant.mlvie ever. Made absolutely no sense. Story line was ridiculous. Anyone who rated this movie anywhere near good is just pretending to be deep.

This film tells the story of an Afghan journalist, who is granted political asylum in the United States of America. He settles in a small town, living with the local policewoman. As he begins his new life and start to forge connections with others, he finds himself unknowingly in much danger.

The film has nice cinematography and lighting, but unfortunately that is about it. The story is rather poorly told, as things are not clearly explained. The relationship between Osman and the policewoman is quite confusing, as I clearly heard Osman calling the policewoman "mum" on two occasions. It is also hard to understand why Osman acted so irresponsibly, walking into danger when it is very apparent that some people are not to be messed with. Osman's persistent belief of Lindsay needing him is beyond me either, as Lindsay made no such statement, and there is no evidence to make Osman believe in that. The final scenes that happen in a weird commune is very confusing, and makes little sense. I do not understand the story at all.

Ian Olds made the documentary Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi. It showed the working relationship between journalist Christian Parenti and his Afghan colleague Ajmal Naqshbandi during the Afghan War. Naqshbandi was killed by the Taliban.

In this feature film, Osman (Dominic Rains) is a fixer/interpreter to an American journalist now living in rural northern California having been granted asylum status.

Osman lives with the mother of his American journalist friend who obviously loves the thrill of being a war reporter. His mom Gloria (Melissa Leo) is a cop and Osman is very much a surrogate son to her.

Osman needs to fit in, he gets a low paid job as a crime reporter and is very much a fish out of water as he encounters the low life in the town, not far from being hillbillies. One of them is Lindsay (James Franco) who when sober can construct the best hot tubs but disappears and might have killed someone.

Osman also meets some hippy types who treat him nice but underneath there might also be tension as they test his masculinity being a displaced person.

The story was weak and far fetched. There is a film to be told of an Afghan asylum seeker trying to fit in his host country. Here Osman covers up for Lindsay a man he hardly knows and who beat him up when they first met. He then later gets in a fight with some gangster types. The plot just stretched credibility.