One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I just saw this documentary as part of an event celebrating the 37th anniversary of the passing of the Fair Housing Act. This documentary does a great job at promoting discussion on diversity, what it means to be an American, and demonstrates that discrimination is an issue in our communities. People like to think that discrimination is a problem that was resolved, that we live in more enlightened times, that laws are on the books that ensure fair and equal treatment, that discrimination is not a problem in their community. Unfortunately discrimination and hatred are alive and well. Fortunately there are people and organizations that are ready to defend freedom and a documentary like this shows how a community can respond. One of the points made at the event today was have a plan, don't wait for a crisis to hit your community. Form partnerships and alliances that foster diversity and show that every human life is valued. Be proactive. Please watch this documentary and get others in your community to watch it as well.

It is one of the most musical documentaries I have ever seen, not just the lovely flute of Bashir Adel Aai, but the whole way the interviews are cut, with their phrases floating in the air and breaking against each other. It is one of the privileges of documentary to be able to create conversations among people who would never speak to each other, and Hamseh does it beautifully. I love the way he under informs us, so we are frequently surprised by the words and the faces they come out of. He builds the tension slowly but inexorably, with the pudding-jowled mayor as the fulcrum, a strangely affectless figure whom Hamseh rightly, I think, does not utterly demonize, who makes a journey of his own from cluelessness to -- speechlessness, a kind of metaphor for the reception of the Somali presence by the traditional locals. By the end, one feels an almost physical pressure. We are very lucky to have Hamseh: a sympathetic outsider/insider who can understand Americans better than we can ourselves.

The Letter, by independent filmmaker Ziad Hamzeh, is a great complement to the novel, "The Ice Beneath Us", by first-time author Christian Bauman.The latter tells the semi-autobiographical story of a US soldier sent to Somalia during the "Black Hawk Down" period, more specifically about his inability to adjust to civilian life back in the US after the traumatic events in Somalia.The Letter tells what is, in some ways, the "other" side of the story -- that of Somalia refugees who fled to the US, and eventually settled in a small town in Maine -- ironically just a few miles from the home town of one of the soldiers killed in Mogadishu during the Black Hawk Down incident.Hamzeh masterfully lets the story tell itself and lets the real people reveal their own characters, without intrusive narration or heavy-handed editing. The result, rather than being a polemic, is an unflinching yet ultimately hopeful look at the nature of ignorance, fear and hate, each breeding the other, as a working-class community struggles to come to terms with strangers in their midst, with racist hate-groups that seek to exploit the culture-clash and misunderstandings that ensue, and the national media that swoops down like vultures to inflame all sides.Ultimately, it is the ordinary people of Lewiston, Maine, who emerge with their dignity intact, rising above their baser instincts and coming to embrace the Somali people among them as brothers and sisters and, above all, human beings.A profoundly beautiful piece of documentary film-making, which stands out even in this season of blockbuster documentaries, and a must-see for everyone who wishes to have their faith in ordinary Americans renewed.

A film that makes you feel and think....a rare thing indeed in this day and age of "Dodgeball: the Movie"and other mindless cinematic crap. "The Letter" holds up a mirror to our so called "open" society and doesn't flinch. The message is simple: love thy neighbor, live and let live. America is the great melting pot, like it or not. Everyone except Native Americans are IMMIGRANTS to this country.For one group to lay claim to it is ridiculous and based on supreme ignorance. Our country is great because of its diversity, not in spite of it. We need to remember what is written in the Constitution and at The Statue of Liberty. Agree or disagree with the message or messenger, go see "The Letter" for the spirited conversations you'll have afterwards. This film should be shown in middle schools and high schools around the country.