Captain
Abu Raed
July 2009
Captain Abu Raed is a
universal story of friendship,
inspiration and heroism set
in contemporary Jordan.
Abu Raed is a lonely janitor
at Amman’s International
Airport. Never having
realized his dreams of
seeing the world, he
experiences it vicariously
through books and brief
encounters with travelers.
Finding a discarded Captain’s
hat in the trash at work one
day, he is followed by a
neighborhood boy who spots
him wearing it as he walks
home. The next morning
he wakes up to find a group
of neighborhood children
at his door, believing him
to be an airline pilot. And thus
the friendship begins. Happy
for the company and attention,
he takes the children to
colorful places around the
world through his fictional
stories and inspires them
to believe in their own
ambitions. Murad, an angry
outsider to the group,
vindictively attacks Abu
Raed and the sense of hope
he instills in the children. In
his quest to prove that Abu
Raed is a liar and a fake,
Murad begins to discover
new possibilities in his life. Meanwhile, Abu Raed’s
friendship with Nour, a real
female pilot, begins to grow
as she deals with her own
set of pressures from life in
modern Amman. Captain
Abu Raed is the story of
everyday people intersecting
across social boundaries. It
is a story of dreams, friend-
ship, forgiveness, and sacrifice.
