Customer Reviews

Civic Duty

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Civic Duty" exploits the paranoia of post-9/11 America to create a timely, suspenseful, and critical thriller about the fear of terrorists in our midst. Terry Allen (Peter Krause) is short-tempered and insecure after losing his accountant job just as he and wife Marla (Kari Matchett) were looking forward to buying a house. Left with little to do beside send out resumes and watch television reports of the growing menace of Islamic terrorists, Terry begins to see something furtive in the activities of his new neighbor Gabe Hassan (Khaled Abol Naga), a Muslim graduate student.

Much of "Civic Duty"'s success, both as suspense and as metaphor for America's socio-political obsession, relies on the credibility of Peter Krause's performance. Insecurity and idleness turn Terry into a paranoid bully. He's irrational, but that doesn't mean that he's wrong. Director Jeff Renfroe keeps us guessing. Has Terry stumbled upon something sinister in spite of himself? Is Hassan a terrorist, completely innocent, or perhaps a criminal of a more mundane nature? Regardless, Terry's belief that someone is out to get him is insular and self-destructive. A theatrical trailer is the only bonus feature on the Red Envelope 2007 DVD.

Pros: Great acting throughout; Peter Krause is incredible. All extras fill their respective roles convincingly, as well. Directer put great emphasis on the details, which, in this movie, is important. Story/Plot is simple due to its symbolic nature, making it easy to follow. Awesome camera work lends to the unsettling nature of the film. Great cultural/stereotype contrasts, though sometimes over the top.

Cons: Message is too heavy-handed, taking away some realism. Film tends to be dramatically claustrophobic. It does not matter if it was intended, it still needed air.

Where They Went Wrong: There is an anti-American diatribe against American Foreign Policy to rebut the cruel treatment of women in certain Middle-Eastern countries. This did nothing to lend to the films credibility and came off as ridiculous, unfair, and one sided. Conflicts (wars) are completely different than inhumane domestic policy. Even if those conflicts are wrong. The whole screed was a misnomer.

Where They Went Right: The symbolism of Krause's angry disposition serving as Americas general hostility, fed by media hype and propaganda. This predisposition made the whole chaotic scenario almost believable.

This film was enjoyable, just wish it would have been more well-rounded.

Also, we could've used this film circa 2004...whatever.

Rent It.

I was always surprised in the wake of 9/11 that we never heard of an instance where an Arab looking passenger got up to use the lavatory on an airplane and was attacked by the other passengers. With tensions and suspicion both running high I thought such incidents were inevitable, but if they happened I never heard about them. There was the incident where six Muslim clerics where pulled off of an airplane in Minneapolis because the pilot received a note from a passenger pointing out there were "Arabic men" on the plane, but that has been the exception rather than the rule (the airport in Minneapolis is apparently just a place where strange things happen if you pray in Arabic or go around tapping your foot too often in a restroom).

"Civic Duty" is a 2006 film that deals with the sort of paranoid over-reaction to the terrorist attack that I had suspected might become commonplace. Terry Allen (Peter Krause) has just lost his job as an accountant and without work to keep his mind occupied he becomes obsessed with coverage of the War on Terror on cable television. Especially since a "Middle Eastern" looking young man (Khaled Abol Naga) has moved into an apartment that Terry can see from his window. We already know that Terry is predisposed to see the worst in people after he cruelly points out to a smiling bank teller the idiotic redundancy of the term "ATM Machine." Like those strange little beings on those annoying television commercials, Terry stars off sour and then tries to be sweet. It is just that we never really buy it, any more than we can really believe that there is a terrorist in that other apartment. The more desperate Terry is to believe it, the more we resist the idea. But is the film just toying with us?

Everything Terry sees--and he goes too far to see too much--fits into the "profile" that the media has been talking about. Terry calls the FBI, but Agent Tom Hilary (Richard Schiff) seems more suspicious of Terry than of the subject he has under surveillance. Terry's wife, Marla (Kari Matchett), sees the glass as barely wet and not nearly full, and her approach to the situation is to go over and knock on the neighbor's door, introduce herself, and find out who the guy is and what he does. The answers satisfy Marla, but not Terry, who is starting to spout rationalizations usually associated with being a good Nazi rather than a vigilante America. There is an overwhelming feeling that this is all going to end badly, and it is just a question of how badly it is going to end, even if you do not foresee the particular way the end game plays out here.

Ultimately, "Civic Duty" is more about psychology than it is politics. Director Jeff Renfroe shoots scenes to enhance the idea of paranoia, while the screenplay by Andrew Joiner tries to keep Terry tottering on the fence as to whether he is right or if he is wrong. The epilogue to the film seems at first glance to be one last gambit on that idea of ambiguity, but if you keep a careful watch on Terry's left eye you can decode the final scene successfully. The DVD has the trailer for the film and that is it, which seems totally bizarre these days when most DVDs seem to have way too many extras. What this film is doing and what it has to say would seem worth pursuing a bit more, but apparently we are simply to watch "Civic Duty" and come to terms with it on our own.

When I was reading the back of this DVD I was thinking to myself, well it could be a good movie, but from the very moment it got started it grab me, and was captivating until the very dramatic end.

Terry is a good looking middle class accountant, who is age wise either in his late 20s or early 30s. His life clearly takes a turn for the worse, when he is suddenly and unexpectedly laid off. Now, the problems with his wife begin: there's the impending question of how to pay their mortage on their new home, and most of all how soon Terry will get another job, to make ends meet. But all these problem pale in comparison to Terry's newest obsession with his Middle Eastern looking neighbor. To Terry he is behaving increasingly suspicious and fits neatly into the profile of an islamic extremist and terrorist.

This new obsession which he discovered soon starts to drive a big wedge between him and his wife. She simply dosen't at all approve of Terry's suspicions. Needless to say, that things get more drastic and out of control from now on. Terry, after some time calls on the FBI, hoping literally that they will kick down the door of the new Arab neighbor and simply arrest him, since he saw a type of chemical laboratory in his apartment. The FBI Agent, an elder experience professional, soon tells Terry in no uncertain terms to back off, since this is a free nation, where everyone has certain constitutional rights, and these are always to be respected, hence, kicking down someones door, because of a mere suspicion or notion, is simply out of the question. Moreover, Terry is warned not ever again to go into this apartment, (he did so after he knocked and found the door to be open), or else the FBI will start investigating him and making his life miserable.

I don't want to give away too much of the excellent plot, but suffice it to say that this DVD really pickes up on the suspense as it goes along. The fabulous thing about it, is not only its very realistic and current plot, but rather that it has a clear unmistakable message for all its viewers. And this message is definitely against all those neo-conservatives in the Bush Administration, as well as its lackeys in the mass media, that continually scare people in the USA into submission, by relentlessly arguing that there is a constant and very dangerous threat to every American because of islamic terrorism.

One can see this new movie either as a parodie and satire of the current Bush government or, as was much more likely intended, an authentic warning of the effects of an overly repressive administration that has already taken away many of the fundamental civil rights, that were guaranteed by the constitution. Things like the Homeland Security and the Patriot Act, are thus clear violations of the cherished civil liberty that the US always stood for, and still claims to stand for. Furthermore, this movie, shows the mirror image of an (American) extremist, brilliantly played by Peter Krause, who believes himself to be on a mission to save the US from fanatics, but in the event of doing so himself becomes a fanatic, obsessed with anything and anyone that might look arabic, Middle Eastern or just look and act different from any mainstream norms. This is ingeniously shown in the long scene where he totally disregards his neighbors right to privacy and general civil rights, and takes matters into his own hands, and becomes a type of vigilante, who can no longer be convinced that his suspicions have deluded him, and turned him into distrubed fanatic that sees a Jehadist behind every closed curtain.

After three separate copies of CIVIC DUTY received from a well known Web-based DVD rental service, each of which skipped or stopped playing altogether, I finally purchased (at a discount) an original disc, which worked just swell. I'd only ever gotten as far as twenty-five minutes into the flick and I was hooked.

Here, Peter Krause (Nate Fisher in Six Feet Under - The Complete Series Gift Set) plays Terry Allen, a just-fired CPA married to Marla (Kari Matchett). The couple lives on the second floor of a courtyard apartment building, and Terry's loss of his job now endangers the loan they'd hoped to acquire for a new house. Terry needs a new job ASAP; the pressure is on.

Like most Americans, Terry is bombarded with daily news stories regarding the Arab jihadists' threat to the United States. Then, one day, he notices that a young, Middle Eastern-looking, single man has moved in downstairs across the courtyard. The new tenant, Gabe Hassan (Khaled Abol Naga), almost immediately demonstrates what to Allen is suspicious activity, like rummaging through the building's trash dumpster in the wee morning hours and receiving mail from a mysterious "Brotherhood". Instead of sending out resumes, Terry begins to follow Hassan around. This obsession based on no concrete evidence enrages Marla, especially as hubby's failure to find a new job puts the kibosh on the house loan. In any case, Terry becomes alarmed enough to approach the FBI, personified by Agent Tom Hilary (Richard Schiff). But the Feds fail to investigate as fast or as decisively as Allen thinks necessary, so the latter, still unemployed and with a crumbling marriage, takes matters into his own hands with disastrous consequences.

What will perhaps draw the viewer in, besides the obvious sinister threat that Terry perceives may exist, is the character of Allen himself, which, as played by Krause, who's got the All-American guileless, good looks that anyone could ask for, is that of your average, hard working, well-meaning, tax-paying citizen. It could be you or I. Plus, he's just been laid off and is having problems with the bank, spouse and an unhelpful government bureaucrat, which could also be you or I. We want Allen's suspicions to be valid, but begin to wonder about his sanity as he approaches, then goes over, the edge. That couldn't be you or I, could it? The moral of the story is perhaps not so much the need to keep vigilant in the face of faceless terrorism but rather the dangers of having too much time on one's hands paired with an active imagination. But then again, as Terry tells Marla, being paranoid doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.

By the time the film rolled into its closing frames, I'd already mentally improved the script to deliver more of a "gotcha" ending. Mind you, the conclusion as it stands is good enough to rate four stars, but not more.

I've begun surreptitiously watching our neighbors' windows with binoculars for some indication that they're as dangerous as I think they are. One in particular, a seller of antiquarian books, I suspect of altering the punctuation in his wares.

I had high hopes for this movie based on the feedback , the trailer and the cover - but it would like to be a "Disturbia" or "Rear Window" but it fails to connect .

Obviously using a low budget - nothing wrong with that - but at least replace a low budget with some good script . At times the movie dragged a bit - but overall got the American paranoia message across in a dramatic way - worth a look !

It is a wonderful and realistic movie. It depicts the paranoia and misunderstanding people have toward Arabs, Muslims and the Middle East. It is educational in a very responsible matter. Highly recommended. The actors are very talented. This movie treats a real life problem.

Even though the movie had great promise - it just fell flat on its face. **Spoiler Warning** In the end the movie is about a deranged person and nothing more. He reported the activity as he should have, but the government would not have reacted as it did, which was to basically blow him off. That does NOT entitle him to break into anyone's house and threaten them at gun point. Why WAS he holding a gun to this guy's head after the police showed up? Hostage negotiators never behave this way - nor do the police in a hostage situation. How the hell did his wife end up with the team that broke in?

It was a clumsy way to bring up issues. I felt absolutely no compassion for the lead character - none at all.

The makers of this film mocked the real terrorist threat by using a character who is insane and abusive to stalk an Arab neighbor. Obviously, they believe that examination of terrorism is excessive and that Americans are a bunch of paranoid people because of September 11th.

The main character is a psychotic failure in life who cannot adequately provide for himself and his wife who is fired from jobs repeatedly and cannot find employment.

Additionally, it was obviously low budget with very poor acting. The police told the crazy man that the FBI agent he requested could not come to the scene of the kidnapping because "it was not their (FBI's) jurisdiction." Give me a break. There were inconsistencies in sequences of events and the actions of the characters, that it wasn't even interesting.

This is another example of Hollywood trying to make a political statement that no one cares about. It did very poorly at box offices. Don't bother with this film. It is a stupid waste of time.

Hollywood had better get the message that no one cares about their political views and that people just want to be entertained, or they will keep losing money through these flops. The American people can think for themselves.

"Civic Duty" was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival. Director Jeff Renfroe had previously directed a feature titled "One Point 0." This was the first effort of screenwriter Andrew Joiner that I found. Peter Krause was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for his hit TV series "Six Feet Under" in 2001 & 2002 as well as for the Emmy for the 2005 season. As Terry Allen, his character increasingly loses touch with reality, becoming more & more paranoid. Kari Matchett played his wife Marla. She's appeared on several TV series including "Invasion Iowa" in 2005 and "Heartland" in 2007. Rarely does a performance irritate me, but I found her completely unsympathetic. I could not detect any kind of chemistry between her and Krause. They seemed like ships passing in the night from the first frame. Her hard edge demeanor would have made her excellently cast in a film like Waitress (Widescreen Edition), but she did not fit as the stable one in the relationship. She should have been the one flipping out and Krause should have been the stable supportive spouse. Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga who was in an Egyptian film A Citizen, a Detective & a Thief played the downstairs neighbor Gabe Hassan whose actions are interpreted as a terrorist threat by Terry Allen. He turns in an excellent performance from rude insolence to frightened hostage. Richard Schiff, who was in "The Martian Child" and has played in "Ray," "I Am Sam" as well as his best known role on TV's "West Wing," plays FBI agent Tom Hillary whose lack of action triggers Allen. The film doesn't work for me because it is hard to have a main character who is crazy. The audience has no one to hold onto. The last sequence in the institution was unclear to me. I couldn't tell if Allen was literally seeing a TV news report about envelopes or whether it was his hallucination interrupting a televised golf match. It was a critical point that didn't register with me. While Krause makes a brave attempt to follow Terry Allen's mental disintegration, the story didn't play well for me. I was glad when it was over. Taxi!