The Visitor

The Visitor (2008) is an American drama directed by Tom McCarthy that you can watch online on iFILM. Walter Vale, a burnt-out economics professor from Connecticut, arrives in New York for a conference and finds two strangers living in his rarely-used apartment — Tarek, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend.

Walter doesn't throw them out. Instead, a quiet bond forms. Tarek starts teaching him the djembe drum — the first thing that makes Walter feel alive in years. Then the police detain Tarek and send him to a real immigration detention center in Queens. Walter has no legal experience and no influence. He just refuses to walk away.

Richard Jenkins earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, a rare achievement for a film this understated and small in scale. McCarthy built the story around actual detention facilities and policies of the mid-2000s, giving the drama a documentary edge. Stream The Visitor (2008) online on iFILM.