Towelhead is quite a movie. Personal, real, disturbing, it was written and directed by Alan Ball of American Beauty and Oscar fame. I actually never heard the term before, but the title is a derogatory stereotype. There were a few times I wanted to turn off the DVD and hope that things were going to get better, but it kept getting more complicated and difficult, and I kept squirming through most of the second half of the film. But it succeeds in putting personal face on stereotypes. Here’s a beautiful young woman of 13 dealing with so much in her life – moving 180 degrees from a vampire mother to live with a distant yet controlling father, coming of age, starting to relate to boys…. then to also have to deal with a world in which stereotypes are real and defining, whew. It’s a lot. So, I recommend it for making stereotypes personal. On the DVD, there is also an extra feature discussion segment between the director, two of the actors, and a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. I know that film reviewers have been harsh in their criticism of the film, but there’s a lot to learn from this film and I recommend it.