An engaging and though-provoking story of how humanity gets by in the wake of misplaced 9/11 bureaucracy. By ROSEANNE LIANG.

THE IMAGE of a balding white middle-class economics professor drumming African beats in the New York subway could seem trite, but in the warm, capable hands of writer/director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent), it is a heartbreaking expression of futility, powerful and true. Humanity provides the only glimmer of hope in this present-day America, where paranoia renders the very paragon of democracy an unyielding, inscrutable façade reminiscent of a fascist or communist regime.

The Visitor begins as the story of a lonely Connecticut-based widower, Walter, whose life has atrophied into a series of lies designed to help him coast through his academic duties. When he finds two illegal immigrants (Syrian musician Tarek and his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab) living in his New York apartment, their youthful love and effortless joie de vivre slowly break down his (and the audience’s) defenses. Walter’s shy but sweet induction into the world of rhythm is cut predictably short when Tarek is stopped at a subway and bustled off to an immigrant detention centre. When his mother turns up on Walter’s doorstep, their blossoming friendship (and wishful romance, on the audience’s part) is tempered by the dread of a growing hopelessness in Tarek’s incarceration.

Through an impeccable all-round cast and masterful evenhandedness, McCarthy succeeds in infusing a simple redemption story with the gravity of a worthy political drama. He plays maddeningly on the cheap and crowd-pleasing options (why can’t we just have a Green Card type arrangement fix everything? Shouldn’t this be where the hero runs onto the airplane and professes his love, romantic-comedy-style?), making the point that this issue doesn’t just boil down to cute movie climaxes. He steadfastly avoids simplicity – there are no goodies or baddies here, just people doing what they think is right. For me, however, the message is clear – multiculturalism is a wellspring of vitality. For every terrorist there is a community of artists, musicians, lovers, families. America better be careful what it puts in the place of the Twin Towers, because in The Visitor, it’s clear that the war on terror can be lost in the smallest of ways.