Usually I don't do a bunch of writing, but all of the sudden I'm all Chatty Cathy up in this joint. Thing is I just felt I really needed to give folks the heads up.

I just got back from the theatre where I went to see Don Cheadle in Traitor. I think Don proved once again why he's one of the greats of this generation as he played Samir, a former US Special Forces  soldier who originally grew up in the Sudan with his African father who taught him to be a devout Muslim.

I don't want to go through the whole plot with you, but I wanted to give you that background because it's important to understand that as Samir goes undercover inside a Muslim terrorist group, his devotion to Islam isn't just a cover. It's real. He is a true follower of Islam, but here's the thing... it doesn't inspire him to blow people up, it inspires him to risk his life to save innocent lives.

At several points in the movie Samir goes toe to toe with Islamic zealots who use a bastardized version of Islam to justify their heinous acts for what are their purely political ends. You see while those zealots twist and warp Islam into words on a page that they can use to manipulate people into serving their purpose Samir believes that Islam is a religion of peace and those who are misusing it are traitors to Islam.

I can't emphasize to you enough how incredibly important I believe this type of portrayal of a Muslim man is. For years in action flicks when ever you need a bunch of "bad" guys for the "good" guy to blow up, maim and generally slaughter with no regret, go find a guy in a turbin and you've got your celluloid cannon fodder. With Traitor finally we have a portrayal of Muslims as what they are... Human.

Some are good, some are bad and some are just stuck in the middle, deciding which one which because as it turns out the world isn't actually as black and white as some like to think. That goes not only for the Muslims, but the Americans as well. You have so obssessed with "winning" that they are willing to sacrifice an untold number of lives in order to "do the right thing", while some see that single minded devotion as not right, but simply selfish.

Guy Pierce actually deserves a shout out too, playing a would be preacher turned Arabic language specialist that goes into the FBI instead of the clergy. In the film his character (who's name escapes me) often talks of his baptist minister father who just happened to also be a member of the Klan in the south where they were from. "I've seen men burn crosses on people's lawn and call it Christianity" he says or something to that effect.

I just wanted to put this up to tell you that you need to get out and support this film. And if you have the unfortunate burden of knowing any devoted republican hawks who think Muslims are just caricatures who all want to blow up the world, drag them to this one so they can actually pull their head out of their asses long enough to actually think about this subject objectively.

Peace