This Taxi Driver Has an Amazing Life Story You'll Want to Hear | Short Film Showcase

I've been cab driver in Chicago around 12 years. I do the job like 12 hours a day. Every day I work because I have four kids. I have to support my kids and my family, and all the time I thank this country because they bring me as the refugees to this country. Every day I bless first my family and I say to my family, God bless America.

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How you doing today, my friend? Thank God, no complaint, my friend. I never complain. Never complain, never. I need to hear that all the time. Customers, they ask me where are you from? I told them, if you know where I am from, I give you free ride. I'm going to give you a clue like a Cash Cab, you know. Go ahead, I'm going to give you my name, my culture, my religion, my language. This is my name, Estefan B. Shalita. Okay, that's my name. Got it?

Our culture, we used to control the world. Our culture now doesn't exist. Religion, we are the first Christians. The language we speak is Arabic. Now this is for a clue; you guess where I'm from, I give you a free ride. Come on! Yes, okay, it's going to be a big fare. How many guesses do I get? Three strikes, you are out. I don't know all the old names. Three strikes, you are out. This is my Cas.

Okay, let me see your name again. Estefan? Estan? The Spanish? No, no, no, no, no. Spish, that doesn't count as a guess. Macedonian? You are close, but too far. The Moors? The Spanish Moors? Strike one! Strike one, yes! Strike one! 50/50? Or you want to call a friend? No, I'm going to figure it out.

Okay, go ahead. You're killing me. Don't kick me out! No, no, no, no, I need a ride. It's a long ride, my friend. Don't think get off my C. Like Cash, get off my C. You give up? Yes, I give up. My name Estan B. Shalita. I am from Iraq. I was born in Basra, south of Iraq.

When I was a teenager back home, I was a neighborhood tough guy. My cousin, his name is Yunan, he was champion of Iraq in boxing. He asked me, "You think you are tough?" I say, "Why?" He said, "Put the gloves and let me see if you are tough." I was spared with him; I was giving him a hard time. He said, "Hey, you are good!" He said, "I'm going to introduce you to the Department of the Sport, Navy Sport."

When I turned 18, I was a professional boxer and professional soccer goalkeeper in the first team in Iraq. I used to skip school and go to the gym, you know, watch him fight. He was young, tall, skinny, handsome. Oh, goalkeeper, boxer! Everybody knew him. When somebody said something, "Oh, you, you Steve's nephew!" "Oh, yeah, we know he's Champion." Used to, you know, make you feel good, you know, especially when somebody related to you and you see him knock out people and you be like, "Yeah, he's my uncle!"

Yeah, we were going, me and my uncle, youngest uncle, and him he had a fight. So we all preparing, you know, he's like everybody. He was the favorite. He went like this first round in like 10, 15 seconds, poof! And he went down. And we were like, "Oh, get up! Get up, man!" My uncle got up; his eyes were like tipped off. He was just breathing from his nose.

After that, for three rounds, he beat him up so much the whole stadium was screaming. Does mean look? Observe and look! The guy, his name is Hail, he became the punching bag.

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There was the light heavyweight champion of Iraq from '68 to '76. All the media, every time all the media boxing, they picked my name to represent the Iraqi national team. They sent me to the training camp five times. Five times they sent me home. I don't know why. Some friends told me maybe because you are Christian or maybe you are not in the Ba'ath Party. They took my father for eight months, and my father with the Ba'ath Party, they took him for eight months. They put him in this, they tortured him, and then after that, they released him. We are sorry.

My father quit the Ba'ath Party. He gathered all the guys in the family and said, "This is not our country. This is never going to be ours." My uncle gathered his stuff. My father got him the ticket and he said, "You don't say I'm taking off. Say I'm going on vacation." If the government knew I was leaving and not coming back, they would put me in jail. My family, they told me, "Estan, you're still young. We want you to be a champion. We want you to be something in your life. Leave Iraq."

I left Iraq in 1976. I ran away from Iraq to Greece. I left behind four brothers and four sisters, my mother and my father. But I was trying to be like any professional boxer, any champion. They don't look behind, just look forward.

When I was in Greece, I was practicing with the team P Course Club. They told me, "Hey, we need you to come with us every day to practice with us." The trainer of the national team told me, "Estan, if you win, we can give you the opportunity to represent the Greek national team." I told them, "I can represent your country." I was too tired, mentally and physically, because mentally I left my family home and I ran away from my country, and physically I was working 12 hours, 10 hours a day in the factory. I was working under the table just to survive.

At that time, when I was working, I met a beautiful girl. I first met her; I was so nervous. I didn't want to talk to her. She gave me an angry face. Then she talked to my friends, "Go talk to Anna." I love her. You know, my friend, a Greek lady, she said, "Oh he's a nice guy, he's a handsome guy. Why you don't want to talk to him?" I said, "No, I don't want to talk to him. I want to go to America because my brother was here. I don't want to get married here. I don't want to engage here."

And she told me, "You're not going to find a guy in America like Stefan." Then I changed my mind. I talked to her. I asked her where are you from? She told me, "I'm from Iraq." Oh, I told her, "I am from Iraq too." She said, "I'm from the north." I told her, "I'm from the south." She told me, "You're going to stay in Greece?" I said, "No, I'm applying for political asylum."

She had a cousin in Australia; they make, I think they make his paper. But he was in love with her; he didn't want to go to Australia. I told her, "You go to America; I'm going to follow you. If you go to America, I come to America too."

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We got married. Then he started boxing.

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Here, I met Ernie Trel. He's champion of the world. And Ernie Trel, he gave me 75 and I had five. When I stopped, his face was stringing, you know, bruising, and Steve, that's it, you have to stop, you have to stop. My son was born in 1980.

I think the fact that he comes home from like a 14-hour day, I mean, just happy, happy to see us, happy to be home, happy to be alive, happy to have a job.

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From what I hear, he's always been a happy camper, you know? I think he's always been like that. I think that's what keeps us going, him being so positive because he's had such a hard, a difficult life. I think he overlooks the little things that would bother anybody. He just thinks about his family, wanting to see them, and that just brings him joy.

His job brings him joy. Talking to so many people about his life brings him joy. The customer, I told them, "You know what? I have $4 million." Oh, they told me, "How? How you have $4 million?" I told them, "Listen to this, I have four kids born here; that's my fortune. That's my $4 million!"

You never know what's going to be, and that's my kids. My parents haven't seen their parents in 30 some years. So my mom always told us when we were kids, "You're my mom, you're my dad; the way I loved my mom and dad, that's how much I love you." I looked at the picture and say, "You know, I come from a big family. We were six sisters and one brother. It was a big family, it was a nice life, you know, all together."

Going to the airplane to leave Iraq, I see my sister and that said was the last time in my life I didn't see her. Then I went to Greece, and after that, I didn't see my family. We talked to each other, but I didn't see my family. I miss everybody. I miss my sister, I miss my mom, I miss my dad, I miss all of them. But I can do nothing. My parents die. I don't see them. His parents die; he didn't see them. And I can't go to see their funeral because I'm scared. Everybody goes back; they put me in jail, or they kill me.

Yeah, my sister, she went to my village. Only rock, no houses, no nothing. They bombed the church. I was screaming, crying. Yeah, everybody in church, just Saddam's time. Nobody can do that. That's what they say.

Yeah, they say, "We used to have Saddam. One Saddam. Now we have 40 Sadams. We need just peace in that country everywhere, north, south, east, west, everywhere."

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I didn't think I was going to Greece and find somebody and in love and engaged. I never thought about that. I say this I want to get out from Iraq. Something capital was a gift for both of us. Yes, that's a gift. Yeah, for both of us.

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Sometimes I think, what if my dad never took that step to change his flight ticket and be like, "I'm coming with you, sweetheart. I'm coming with you, honey."

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If I didn't have my dad, I wouldn't know what to do. Thinking of like having a different father than who I have now would be devastating. I think it would be heartbreaking. So if that makes me, my husband, he was champion, and I want to raise my kids gentleman like my husband. He was gentleman, he was champion. I want my kids to be just like him.

We know each other from almost 36 years, right? Yeah, 37. We got— We still in love, right? Oh yeah! I love you! I love you more than my life! I love you too!

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Anywhere that it want do one, any way fing way out there.

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Wild way.

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No!

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Way you...

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