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Mira Nair (age 55) is almost more of an international than an Indian film director per se with such co-production's as Mississippi Masala (1991, Denzel Washington) and "Vanity Fair" (2004, starring Reese Witherspoon) in her kitty, but she is better known for such films as Salaam Bombay (1988) and "Kama Sutra, a Tale of Love" (1998), and "Monsoon Wedding" (2001) which remains, till date, the most successful Indian film internationally outside of the NRI market. Wedding won the Golden Lion (Best Film prize) at the Venice Film Festival making her the first female recipient ever of this award. Her film "The Namesake" premièred at Rome in 2006 and was an international critical success. "Amelia" the story of American aviatrix Amelia Earhart portrayed by Hilary Swank, came out in 2009 and was met with mixed reviews but demonstrated the director's versatility and ability to handle all-American as well as Indian subject matter. Among those who praised Earhart was noted American critic Roger Ebert (recently deceased) who described it as "a perfectly sound biopic, well directed and acted", an opinion with which this writer completely concurs.
"Nair's "Reluctant Fundamentalist" opens in Lahore, Pakistan (actual location) with the kidnapping of an American diplomat and an interview by an American journalist with a young American-Pakistani college professor, Changez, suspected of inciting anti-American terrorism. The scruffy looking journalist, actually an undercover CIA agent who is fluent in Urdu, is a close friend of the kidnapped American and is hoping to get information that will secure his release. Changez agrees to be interviewed under condition that the journalist listen to his entire story through to the end.
Agreed. We now learn in flashback that Changez (Genghis?) was an outstanding student at Princeton and then held down a top job in a leading New York financial firm. Not only that, his adviser there was an iconic second generation Hollywood character actor. He had everything going for him except for his name and swarthy looks when 9/11 hit. Forced to undergo humiliating racial profiling at airports and slurs from former colleagues he gradually transforms from a staunch believer in the American dream to a die hard opponent of the system that is degrading him. He returns to Pakistan as a university professor in Lahore where he incites his students to anti-American activities.
Through this dialogue in the threatening atmosphere of a crowded Pakistani café we begin to see the other side of terrorism -- how our own prejudices can turn a faithful American citizen into a disillusioned "reluctant" terrorist. There is consistent tension in the film and it ends with a rousing shootout, but it leaves you asking lots of questions. Nair herself says that her purpose was to do just that --create a dialogue on a subject nobody has the answers to but everybody has an opinion on. The main question on my mind after the screening was "why did I sit all the way through this and not take an early walk?" In a lengthy lecture after the screening Nair revealed that her father was actually a Punjabi from Lahore who had to move to India after partition, which makes her feel especially close to this story and enabled her to get permission to shoot on real locations in Pakistan --most unusual for an Indian filmmaker. The central role of Changez, on the cusp of two conflicting cultures, is played convincingly by British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed, the American journalist less convincingly -- far less convincingly -- by Liev Scheiber, Kiefer Sutherland is Changez's breezy corporate mentor in New York, and Changez's wishy-washy American love interest was Kate Hudson. Based on a scenario with too much stretch and strain and undermined by too many leaky supporting roles the entire film was pretty flounder-aroundery and failed to measure up to the promise of the title.
score 5/10
Barev2013 27 November 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3131827/ |
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2-12-2019 02:05:39