Review of Civic Duty

After being laid off in a downsizing of his company, the bitter and bigoted American accountant Terry Allen (Peter Krause) faces financial problems with the mortgage of his house. He uses his available time to snoop his downstairs neighbor Gabe Hassan (Khaled Abol Naga), a Middle Eastern student that is having his Master degree sponsored by an Islamic organization in an American university, and calls the FBI to tell his suspicion. However, FBI Agent Tom Hilary (Richard Schiff) asks him to forget Hassan. When Terry tells his wife Marla Allen (Kari Matchett) that he had contacted FBI, she becomes upset and leaves Terry. However, his obsessive bigotry and alienation trigger paranoia against his neighbor and a tragic conclusion.

"Civic Duty" repeats the storyline of "Rear Window", i.e., a neighbor snooping another one, to expose in low pace the prejudice and alienation against immigrants in USA after the infamous September, 11th. Peter Krause gives a top-notch performance in the role of an average American citizen of middle-class, frustrated by the unemployment, bombed by the media with shallow information against Islamic people and his alienation and bigotry becoming paranoia that the poor Islamic student is associated to a terrorist group. The plot is totally believable and the tragic conclusion is very realistic. Unfortunately, the DVD released by FOX gives wrong information in the cover, since it has NO SUBTITLES and NO CLOSED CAPTION. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available