Maria Bello

 

12 September 2008 3:10 AM, PDT | From NYPost.com | See recent New York Post news

'Towelhead," wherein a Muslim-American girl faces all manner of abuse in a Houston suburb, is a blackly funny provocation from Alan Ball, the genius who wrote "American Beauty" and created "Six Feet Under."

Ball's directing debut doesn't reach the heights of either of these earlier works, and some will find its incendiary mix of politics, race and adolescent sexual awakening offensive. But, at its best, it's another incisive satire on American culture.

During the first Gulf war in 1989, 13-year-old Jasira (played by Summer Bishil, 19 at the time