Nothing is private

Alan Ball injects humanity into the big-screen version of Towelhead

By Liz Schroeter
Published: September 18th, 2008 | 2:50pm

Think back to when you were thirteen. Your body was changing, you had already discovered boys but now they were discovering you, your classmates were cruel, your parents didn’t understand. Now imagine that on top of all that, you had just moved to a new town, your self-centered parents were divorced, the married man next door was flirting with you in a way you didn’t understand, and because you are half Lebanese, you get called a “towelhead.” Thirteen was awkward enough.

It was hard to imagine that an adaptation of Alicia Erian’s dark coming of age novel Towelhead could be anything but disturbing on the screen. How do you show a girl discovering masturbation, or getting fingered for the first time? Those things are confusing and even seem shameful at the time, and rarely do we as adults dare to look back on those strange times with full acceptance of just how terrifying it all was. We look back and laugh, because those teenage firsts and challenges of fitting in can just seem funny with a little perspective.

So who better to capture the right balance of dark and funny than director Alan Ball, known for American Beauty and the HBO series Six Feet Under. Experienced in dealing honestly with matters of death, sexuality, and relating to one’s family, Ball manages to cast just the right degree of humor and humanity over an upsetting story to make it palatable. “My sense of humor keeps me from slipping into despair,” Ball said at a Q&A after the film screening in Manhattan.

Ball is also known for creating characters that are never black and white. Towelhead’s sexual predator, played by Aaron Eckhart, succeeds in also being kind and likeable, making it easy for the viewer to understand how his behavior towards main character Jasira was so confusing for her. Meanwhile, Jasira’s father Rifat, played by Six Feet Under veteran and Lebanese-American Peter Macdissi, provides comic relief with his chauvinistic opinions and staunch Catholic-American pride. And yet, Rifat is the protagonist of many of the movie’s darkest moments.

Even though Jasira, played by newcomer Summer Bishil, is the victim of sexual assault, “It’s not a story about victimization,” says Ball. “It’s a story of empowerment.” This may be debatable for viewers. It takes a while for the film to turn a corner towards empowerment, but when it happens it’s in subtle yet striking ways.

As women, we may feel that our bodies (especially as young teens going through so many changes) are not always in our control. Outside forces — be it society, our parents, or men — are trying to tell us what we can and cannot do with our bodies. Towelhead touches on that insecurity while Alan Ball’s characters show that amid all the factors young women have to deal with, no one is innocent.