<p>Laguna Beach California 2009. Alireza Courdee a fourteen-year-old straight-A student and chemistry whiz takes his first hit of pot. In as long as it takes to inhale and exhale he is transformed from the high-achieving son of Iranian immigrants into a happy-go-lucky stoner. He loses his virginity takes up surfing and sneaks away to all-night raves. For the first time Reza—now Rez—feels like an American teen. Life is smooth; even lying to his strict father comes easily.</p><p>But then he changes again falling out with the bad boy surfers and in with a group of kids more awake to the world around them who share his background and whose ideas fill him with a very different sense of purpose. Within a year Reza and two friends are making their way to Syria to join in the fight.</p><p>Timely nuanced and emotionally forceful <i>A Good Country </i>is a gorgeous meditation on modern life religious radicalization and a young man caught between vastly different worlds. What we are left with at the dramatic end is not an assessment of good or evil east versus west but a lingering question that applies to all souls: Does a person decide how to live or is their life decided for them?</p>