IF YOU SEE SOMETHING - Mark Reviews Movies

If You See Something, Joint Venture

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 30, 2025

The screenplay for If You See Something, written by the late Avram Ludwig and co-star Jess Jacobs, puts its protagonist in a difficult position with a seemingly impossible choice to make. It isn't much of a choice, though, for Ali (Adam Bakri), which says what we need to know about this man beyond his situation.

It's perilous enough for Ali. He's seeking asylum in the United States from Iraq, following a medical school education and at least one close call with violence and death. That story is his friend's to tell, because Ali is quiet and humble and knows that whatever he does for others isn't something about which to brag. The man helps because he sees no other choice—even when it puts his own future and life in jeopardy.

There are examples of those qualities throughout director Oday Rasheed's film, which is, like its main character, a discreet and modest counter to those who would judge someone like Ali, either for what he does or because of his ethnicity and immigration status. The film was made before the current, draconian state of immigration policy enforcement, and it is almost surreal to watch scenes of Ali and others like him waiting patiently in government offices to answer questions of polite, patient, and understanding immigration officials. It is amazing—in a dreadful way here, of course—how much can change in such a short amount of time.

Anyway, the most dramatic story of Ali saving a life comes from his good friend Dawod (Hadi Tabbal), who went to school in Baghdad with our protagonist and is visiting his old friend, as well as Ali's girlfriend Katie (Jacobs). It was an ordinary day, as the two men and another student were driving their usual route to classes, but for some reason, Ali told Dawod not to take the main thoroughfare as they always did.

Ali says it was simply because he noticed more traffic than normal, but Dawod argues that it looked the same as always. Either way, taking a different route meant that the three avoided being on the highway when a car bomb detonated. Dawod believes he owes his life to Ali, who doesn't think he did anything special or deserves to be seen in such a way.

The rest of the story is as much about showing Ali to be that kind of person, almost reflexively doing the best for others and not believing it makes him better than anyone else or special in any way, as it is about a moral conundrum that isn't much of one for the man. Upon returning to Baghdad, Dawod is abducted by masked individuals at gunpoint. Initially, no one knows if he is being held for ransom, is going to be some kind of political prisoner, or has already been killed.

Also at first, Ali can't say anything about this to Katie, even though she considers Dawod a friend, too. He finds out while the couple, along with her pregnant sister Margot (Lucy Owen) and brother-in-law Charlie (Reggie Gowland), are on the way to dinner with the sisters' father. He's Ward (Reed Birney), an attorney helping Katie with some contracts at her art gallery. The get-together is awkward enough, with Ward and Charlie assuming a lot of things about Ali and his knowledge of the situation in Iraq, while the father strongly hinting that he doesn't approve of his daughter dating someone like Ali. That's without Ali being distanced from everything, as he worries what has happened to his friend.

Much of this familial suspicion and conflict feels extraneous, especially compared to the stakes of Dawod's abduction, as well the dilemma in which it puts Ali and the captive's family and other friends. There is something else going on here, though, perhaps brought more to the fore by Jacobs' involvement in the script. Like a lot of the narrative and how these characters reveal themselves throughout it, that touch is subtle and only becomes apparent in the film's very final moments.

Mostly, though, a character like Ward is somewhat necessary, because he knows the law—perhaps more about immigration and international money exchanges than he should, unless he has been doing some homework because of his daughter's boyfriend and how he feels about that relationship. As soon as a ransom is demanded, Ali is quick to want to help. Omar (Nasser Farris), a naturalized citizen of the United States who is in contact with people connected to Dawod in Iraq, doesn't want this man, who has been helping people and could help so many more, to jeopardize his asylum claim. It's not a question for Ali, though, because he knows no other way to be but to help others in need.

The film is harrowing—not because it puts forth a moral a dilemma, but quite the opposite. The tension here is that Ali, as well as others, face scrutiny, risk, and the complete upheaval of their lives for doing what most would say is the right thing to do by a friend. No one else is going to help, so that doesn't that make it even more a moral prerogative for Ali, Omar, and others who can help Dawod to actually do so?

It does for them, and as the story unfolds, what other people do with or how they perceive this choice tells us something about them, too. If You See Something has a point to make, but the strength of its characters means it is a compelling drama first and foremost.

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