Joe Hattab… an eye on Jordan

I’ve been very impressed by what Joe Hattab, the well-known Jordanian and Arab documentary filmmaker and traveler, has been doing, as he’s made us see Jordan in a different way, even though we live in it and know all its details.

Jordan’s sons and daughters are creative, and there are many examples of those who excel around the world, which raises the usual question: why do Jordanians excel abroad more than they do at home? The answer isn’t difficult; conditions here are hard, while conditions in other countries are better, sharpening one’s skills and providing a good economic and professional life, compared to their previous circumstances in Jordan.

Joe Hattab has visited more than 100 countries and hundreds of islands around the world, and here in Jordan, he hasn’t merely gotten to know his own country, but presented it in a different way, with a professional eye, one that’s almost the first of its kind. I ask friends: where are all the television and media talents in Jordan? And why weren’t we able, before Joe Hattab, to produce footage with this kind of directorial vision, this aesthetic quality and image quality, and this sensitive selectiveness about what should be filmed and broadcast, or skipped, and also this smart blending of present and past?

While we naturally have plenty of expertise here in Jordan, what Joe Hattab did was different for many reasons, clear to anyone who understands the significant added value of this work.

Joe Hattab’s choice of scenes, his awareness of his audience’s diversity, both Arab and foreign, the experience he’s built up through his previous travels, the technical level of his filming and lighting equipment, the way he narrates in every location, his tone of voice, his style of explaining and presenting each site and social custom, the social scenes, the historical value of ancient sites, and what contemporary life means across different locations in Jordan’s cities, all of this together created a media icon that explains why millions are watching Joe Hattab’s clips.

Joe Hattab isn’t his real name; his name is Jihad Hattab, and perhaps “Joe” is also a shortening of his name, or even the first two letters of “Jordan” in English. It’s enough to see Jordanians celebrating him in every comment and word, and we’re a people who rarely agree on a single thing; perhaps he earned this consensus because his work is technically outstanding, and because Jordanians long for someone to do them justice amid climates seeking to diminish Jordan and erase its roots and its people’s history, and because Jordanians also need a successful model who has achieved dazzling success around the world, and his own country naturally deserves him first, in this display that proves the parties sponsoring his visit and mission excelled greatly in their choice, and in providing him with every possible resource during this visit.

Jordan has been on the map for thousands of years, part of the civilizations of the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, and no one claims it was an isolated island unto itself, but Joe Hattab managed to present it in a way that touches the heart, and made us see Jordan as more beautiful than we feel it to be day to day, because of the climates of psychological strain and economic hardship that rob us of seeing our Jordan for what it truly is. Perhaps one of the most important things Joe achieved here is that he told us this is a country deserving of having its story told, just as he beamed Jordan’s image into the hearts of Arabs and foreigners alike, in a media effort deserving of appreciation, in every sense of the word, without forgetting that there are other Jordanian travelers roaming the countries of the world, and we want them here too, with all their expertise and what they’ve built up through their journeys.

We don’t thank Joe Hattab because he served his country; we thank him because he did so with professionalism and creativity.