It was interesting to see Vale's callous attitude toward one of his students early on when the lad was late turning in a class paper. McCarthy's film seems to be working at several levels, a main one being the character development of Walter Vale, and another the effects of blind bureaucracy upon the human spirit. Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
He invites her to stay in Tarek's room, and while trying to get Tarek released, Walter and Mouna get close to each other and he finds reasons to feel life can be exciting and worth living again.
Walter has just hired a lawyer to defend Tarek when, out of the blue, Tarek's mother Mouna arrives at the apartment from Michigan. However, after an incident in the subway, Tarek is arrested and sent to a detention center for illegal immigrants.
Walter is fascinated with his African drum and Tarek offers to teach Walter how to play it. Tarek invites him to go to his gig at Jules Live Jazz. He sympathizes with the illegal immigrants' situation and invites the couple to stay with him. When he arrives at his New York apartment, he finds Tarek Khalil, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, a Senegalese street vendor, living there. Walter is assigned to attend a conference about Global Policy and Development at New York University and give a lecture about a paper he co-authored.
He teaches only one class at the local college and is trying to learn how to play the piano, despite lacking the necessary musical talent. Lonely widower Professor Walter Vale has a boring life in Connecticut.