Amira and Sam

About a week ago I was at a friend's house and it was so cold outside we decided that it would be a good idea to stay in and rent a movie on iTunes. After several minutes, okay let's be honest - about half an hour, we finally had narrowed it down to two films. We decided on Amira and Sam. A film that was produced by the Draft House, Amira and Sam is small independent movie that I am not ashamed to say made me cry.

Sam is a war veteran who has returned home to New York after serving in Iran for several years. He is faced with learning how to navigate through a world that has gone on without him. Amira is a young women from Iran living in New York with her uncle in a small apartment trying to make ends meet. They have their ultimate “meet cute” when Sam finds a long lost friend from Iran, who just happened to be Amira's uncle. They share a very awkward dinner, where Amira is adamant about not being impressed.

We soon see that fate has brought them together, if you believe in that... But what makes this film so genuine is the navigation of flirtation that ensues. When two people like each other but one of them tries so desperately to deny their feelings, it can make for some very funny and at time awkward situations. The other thing that is pure brilliance about this film is the racial standards and boundaries that we put on people: stereotypes that seem to plague our culture even though we try to say that they are not present today. Amira and Sam must face that very moment when at a engagement party Sam brings Amira as his date and people feel “uncomfortable” with her wearing a hijab. They ask Sam why he would bring her to this event, that it is not appropriate. In one moment an accident turns into a moment where Sam and Amira's lives are completely changed. They must choose to be parted forever or stay together.

I am glad that we rented this film. It was a true picture that love can withstand the ugliest of things; how two people learn how to navigate the strange world of being told that they can't together. It proves love can triumph over racial, economic, class, and other boundaries that we as humans place on it.