MovieChat Forums > The Visitor (2008) Discussion > Why doesn't he just marry Tarek's mother...

Why doesn't he just marry Tarek's mother and call it a day?


She would get the green card. They would both stop being lonely. They could send some cash to Tarek and it's all good. They went for a B.S. poetic ending but the truth is they could have solved a big part of their problem within the system.

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Well, a woman who practices the Muslim faith cannot marry a man who isn't Muslim. The opposite is allowed though, because if the husband is Muslim then the kids will be Muslim too.

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I just blue myself.

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Having them get married just because people who share an inkling of attraction are "supposed" to end up together at the end of a movie -- that would be the BS poetic ending.

And she would not get a green card when she marries a citizen, not when she is in the country illegally. There have been other threads discussing this.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

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I didn't know this. I thought you get a green card if you marry a citizen regardless of your status.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

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The ending you want be the conventional Hollywood ending. It wouldn't work - the mother needed to be with her son in Syria. The point of the film is that Walter's life has changed - he plays the drum at the end and has, perhaps, finally resolved his issue of being lonely without his piano-playing wife. His soul has been re-energized.

Films are not reality. Reality is not film. Film is only an approximation of reality.

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I agree with MuchToBeGratefulFor, the way it ended was how it needed to end. Yes, those of us romantics would love for Walter to sweep Tarek's mother off of her feet in an uncharacteristically passionate way and for them to live happily ever after.

But that's not what needed to happen. The film's ending is perfect, as is the rest of it.

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It's an open ending. You decide!
That's great, isn't it.

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Well....among other things Tarek's mother wanted to be near Tarek not so she could get him "some cash" but because that's where she felt she belonged. Just as Walter belonged in NY. They all enriched each others' lives. That's what it was about, not a neatly tied-up "happily ever after" ending.

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Ladies and gentlemen, romance is not in the air for this evening's entertainment. Maybe set the timer and watch it after breakfast. In today's USA nobody gets a green card by marrying an American citizen. Not even somebody's fiansay legally visiting in the home of the intended victim of materimony.

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LOL alrighty then! "Ladies and gentleman ..." indeed!

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Thank u dragonswak! Cheers me up u enjoyed my comment.

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What is a "fiansay?"

Or, "materimony?"

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1) Being a Muslim, she can only marry a Muslim
2) Her main concentration in life was her son. A partner was secondary. Arab women tend to develop strikingly strong bond with their children, even if they're grown, married and have children of their own

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She can't marry a non-Muslim- but she can *beep* him?

She sleeps with Walter with no visible guilt- but getting married is the problem?


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Mouna did not "sleep with" Walter if you are using the common euphemism for having sex. She laid down on his bed and he put his arms around her. They were a comforting presence for each other in a time of great sadness. She felt responsible for her son's situation because she dismissed the deportation letter from INS, and she admitted this to Walter. He told her it wasn't her fault, and he was right. She was going by the unspoken rules of pre-911, when many people came to the country and overstayed their visas without consequence.

I was worried during the part of the movie where they showed Mouna and Walter developing feelings for each other that they would wrap the thing up Hollywood style with a big bow with the two of them marrying so she could stay in the country and possibly even try to bring Tarek back to the US.

To end the movie that way would have been a cheat. The two of them barely knew each other. Walter had a life in the US, not a fulfilling one, but a life nonetheless. He was not free to jump on a plane and leave it all behind. Mouna had a duty to go back to Syria for Tarek, even if it meant never being able to get a visa to come back to the US. So she had to go, and he had to stay.

Someday, Walter may tie up his loose ends (sell his house, give up his pension and quit his job) and go to Syria, but if he is to stay with Mouna long term, he would have to leave his comfort zone in America permanently. I would like to think that someone like Walter would end up doing that, but the movie leaves the question open.

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I agree with your analysis and agree that it would have been a cheap ending if they married.

Still, I'm fairly certain that Walter and Mouna have sex, if only once. This could be a misreading on my part but when they lie down in Walter's bed, I think the movie is signalling that they spent the night together.


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stopsylvia.com

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"Still, I'm fairly certain that Walter and Mouna have sex, if only once. This could be a misreading on my part but when they lie down in Walter's bed, I think the movie is signalling that they spent the night together."

Your interpretation is more pleasant, and probably in real life that's what would have happened. But in movie metaphor, Walter is tantalized by the illusion of a life that is just beyond his reach. I think Mouna needed human contact in that moment she lay down in his bed, but not necessarily sex. In a way, she was trusting him not to misinterpret her action. That evening, she shared something more intimate with him than sex.

Of course, the movie left it just subtle enough to leave it open for debate :)

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The movie is very subtle, but I found that whole bed scene to be so devastating. I think if there were sex implied, there would have been at least a look in each other's eyes, the start of a kiss. I know you might say that would have been too obvious, but it tends to signal that sex is coming in a lot of films. In this case, she confessed, she cried, he held her, and they were sad together. I sincerely think it was just that, and it was beautiful.

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You are definitely misreading the scene, because nothing about that scene says they had sex. She just wanted companionship. They may have spent the night in the same bed, but I seriously doubt they had sex. Of course if you want to interpret it that way, I guess I can't tell you otherwise.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

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If they got married and everything ended happily, the experience would be closed, just a movie. But this way you're left with a bit of pain at Walter and Amoun not getting together, and Tarek being deported. And, feeling that deporting illegal immigrants is unfair and disruptive and, left with a bit of pain at the whole idea.

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Mouna has been living in America for years illegally, would marrying an American make everything suddening OK with the USCIS?

So... Do you like stuff?

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Actually, getting married would not have solved the problem at all. If you have been living illegally in the U.S. for any amount of time and then you are spnsored for a green card--whether by your child or spouse--you are required to leave the U.S. and remain out for ten years minimum. I think it used to be five, but was increased in the last decade. That is what is so stupid about people being concerned about illegals using their U.S. born children to get green cards, you still have to leave for TEN YEARS! Currently that is a big problem for some soldiers abroad fighting for the U.S. right now (you can join the military as an illegal alien--currently a man that fought during Vietnam and was in the Army for fifteen years is fighting departation). There have been cases involving spouses being deported while their spouse is in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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