Goddamn it I love this documentary. Why? Because it unravels the psyche of middle class industrial nations toward people from developing nations. Which is very patronizing. They mistakenly think just because a country is poor, being invaded, or under occupation that everyone in that country is a poor and penniless person waiting for people from the industrialized nations to rescue them. Undoubtedly some need help, but not all.
Muthana is not a likable character, I will give his critics that, but neither are the people that he comes in contact with save his roommate (immigrant, this is important). Muthana comes from a rich family with a patriach that is well connected, presumably in the Ba'ath party. He says that he comes from a middle class family; middle class by American standards, rich by Iraqi standards. He isn't super rich, but I suspect that in attitude and outlook his life isn't all that different from the people you see on shows like The Hills. Meaning that these are people who grew up in the lap of luxury and fame and aspire to lead life concomitant with what they see in film, movies, and on television. Muthana for all effects and purpose is no different from the kids from The Hills.
Does this make him a person not worthy of kindness? NO! What it does make him is a person that should not be patronized by people he views as equals; socially and otherwise. Hence, his immense pride. Middle class people in America tend to look, no matter their intents, patronizingly on foreigners, especially from countries that they little understand and know. They think that people from said countries are primitive, poor, and child like. Unfortunately, the people that tend to emigrate to the states are people from solidly middle class backgrounds, highly educated, and immensely prideful. And Muthana had all of these qualities in spade.
What happened on the set of Everything is Illuminated and Doom is that not one person nor Muthana knew exactly how to deal with one another. The filmmakers' own prejudicial assumption about foreigners is what ultimately derail their expectations. They think: Ok, we will bring in this "poor Iraqi" and he will know what to do from day one to be on his way to become a success, That he will work menial jobs like all immigrants, be subordinate and respectful, and most of all be grateful for our generosity. Muthana had his own expectations too. He is a sheltered and protected Iraqi kid who expects a middle class life no matter where he is. He isn't world weary nor is he world wise. No wonder he is prideful and scornful at his gofer role. He thought, as you all well know, that he was being given is true break, rather than being use as a pill to sooth the liberal pangs of Liev Schrieber aggravated by Bush's criminally idiotic war.
Muthana is immature, that is without doubt. But he is also naive. He didn't know the process of how to stay or emigrate from the czech republic, save, swallow his pride, or even the gravity of America's invasion of Iraq. And living in a bubble that is a Hollywood film set prevented those realities from setting in. He can't go back home again and he can't stay. Muthana would have benefited greatly from befriending other immigrants with first hand experience of how to survive in a foreign and strange country. Sure he asks for money a lot. But instead of just giving it to him like it will solve all his problem, one of the filmmakers should have sat down with Muthana, explain the gravity of his situation to him, tell him that he needs to swallow his pride and start literally from scratch, and finally point out to him the process to which he can lead a sustainable life while fulfilling his dream.
The filmmakers were exploitative enablers who give him money hoping that he will go away when it was they that brought him over to soothe their liberals pangs without any plans as to what to do with him concretely laid out(long sentence I know but bare with me). It wasn't until he got to the film school in london and living with an actual immigrant from an equally *beep* part of the world that the reality of his situation start to dawn on him. I have no doubt that Muthana will thrive and survive once he is out of the bubble of hollywood and around people that have to live in a day by day world. His roommate will no doubt help him more than what Liev, The Rock, and the docu-idiots put together. The biggest thing they did for Muthana is steering him into the path of said roommate because it is he that will teach him how to survive and live in a foreign land.
To those saying that Muthana is an ingrate and an ungrateful moocher, well I say that you hold those views only because you think that anyone from a developing country is so poor that they should be grateful for even having the opportunity to live in an industrialized country without long term plans.
