A review of The Traveler film by Kazem and Diane Tehrani
On the surface this film is a simple story of a woman, Maryam, who has come to the
U.S. to find her husband and while she is exhausting all avenues to locate him, she falls
in love with the taxi driver, Ali, who has made a masterful search to help her.
Looking beneath the surface, we see a woman from a country where women are not
always their own agents who can take matters into their own hands without a male
family member or female friend as companion. Maryam journeys to another country with
which she is totally unfamiliar and in which she is without relatives to guide her. That is
not to say that the environment is a hostile one, only to comment that coming from a
culture in which women are particularly protected by their families, the environment into
which she comes, from the woman’s perspective, would not appear to be that secure.
This is especially true when one considers that the country she is visiting and the one
from which she comes have not had cordial relations for over thirty years. In many
cases, an atmosphere of deep suspicion and mistrust has pervaded the populations of
both countries to the point that first time travelers to either country are often astonished
at how human and accommodating people generally are.
The movie shows a character, a taxi driver, conditioned by and assimilated to American
culture and values who generously seeks to assist a fellow country woman navigate the
reality of American life, including such advantages as the many avenues to find
someone including auto licenses, school records, phone directory and police
department missing persons, as well as a social network of friends and acquaintances
developed over many years. Additionally, he makes use of some craftiness in
convincing the father of the fiancé/husband to reveal the location of the young man.
This is a good movie whose sequence of events and action is well organized and wellpaced. Images occur in time with well-edited and timely conversations between
characters, and without dialogue when none is called for. Accompanying musical
rhythms keep pace with the action as it hums along. The beginning and the end of the
film at the Los Angeles airport show a kind of cyclical time in which there is a return to
the beginning but with the two main characters, both Iranians, having been transformed
in some way by the encounter of the two cultures of the old and new worlds.
The movie starts with an airplane arriving and all the passengers disembarking from the
gate. One of them has only a small carry-on bag compared with others with large
suitcases. Again on departure, the viewer will see the same scene with one passenger
with a light carry-on piece of baggage going to the departing gates: the traveler
Maryam. Perhaps this is meant to show that neither she nor the taxi driver, Ali are
attached to the material entity. This taxi driver is honest in helping the young woman
and, to the last scene, when he refuses any payment for his services, he resists any
temptation to take advantage of the young woman.
In responding to the other characters so genuinely and realistically playing their roles in
this film, Ali shows himself as a cooperative, friendly taxi driver who doesn't want to over
charge people. He works as a traveler’s assistant, always helping people to the best of
his ability to get to their destinations.
There is a contrast between the taxi driver, who is honest and telling the truth, and a
man who has promised to send for his fiancé/wife and does not keep his promise. There
may also be a contrast between a hard-working individual and a rather lazy one. The
taxi driver says at one point that a common stereotype about America is that it is a place
of continual partying and engaging in leisure activities. In fact, it is a place where people
work very hard to reach some stage where they can appreciate the natural world, such
as the beach he can see from the roof of his apartment building, and engage in some
creative work, such as painting.
Maryam shows interest in Ali’s honesty from the very beginning of the first ride that he
gives her. By her action and questions, she indicates that she prefers a taxi driver who
is honest to a doctor who is dishonest. But her attraction is not really evident until, after
unmasking the dishonest husband who deceived her, she takes the wheel of the taxi
and asks Ali if he needs a ride. When Ali says ‘yes’, and sits in the back seat, it is the
first sign of Ali’s love for Maryam, the traveler. This point is supported by a portrait that
is titled ‘Traveler’ that Ali paints and shows in an art gallery. When asked about the price
of the painting, he says that the painting is not for sale but that it belongs to a friend of
his. That is the second sign that reveals the love that has developed for Maryam the
traveler.
Ali Hatefi, known professionally as the composer, singer, and poet Hatef, left Iran
after the Islamic revolution. His works include the hit album Zange Tafrih, a
shared album with the singer Dariush called Sofreh Sin and six more albums
including Blue Dreams, Yaran e Khiali, Neghab, and Safir that are well known in
the Persian music market.
Besides music, Mr. Hatefi developed an interest in film from when he was fifteen,
and with a super 8 camera during the 1979 revolution in Iran, captured footages
of people protesting against the former regime. After finishing his service in the
Iran/Iraq war in 1982, he moved to America to continue, and complete in 1992, his
education in industrial engineering from California State University. Since that
time, he has worked on various projects for years along with composing Persian
music and performing live concerts for Persian audiences in the U.S. and Europe.
His passion for cinema drove him to make his first short film in 2008 which years
later led him to his first self-produced feature film ‘The Traveler’ with English
subtitles, completed March 2013, and screened in London’s Portobello Film
Festival last year. Currently, he travels all over the world to perform his hit songs
in live concerts along with showing his film the same night to bring film and
music lovers together in a unique and exciting Persian concert/film event. Please
see the following link for a short preview: