BFI London Film Festival My Reviews

 Reviews By- Tashi Khan
Support  By -Neeley Lara Gail

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Director Mira Nair     www.reluctantfundamentalist.com

This was a big gala film and I was quite excited, so I requested for a ticket but after rejection from the press office had to rush to buy my ticket as the film was almost sold out. As I sat     through the film I realised that Mira is trying to show the other side of the coin by adapting the film from the blockbuster by Mohsin Hamid.

The film is about a young gusty and ambitious guy named Changes played by newcomer Riz Ahmed, who is a bright stockbroker. He is trying to adjust between two cultures. Changes works for Apple. His father is a poet based in Pakistan. He believes he is an American. However his Father who resides in Lahore seems to detest the West.

Changes lands a job in a big company with Kiefer Sutherland where he is ruthlessly taking over companies in trouble. Changes catches his eye when he suggests that by cutting down the man power companies they will reef benefits.

In his spare time he goes for walks. One day on one of these walks he meets Erica played by Kate the troubled trophy wasp princess, taking photos and by accident he appears in her shoot, which starts a long loving relationship.

One day while relaxing in his home he has a shock of his life on TV. The twin towers collapsing with the plane slicing through the towers. His beloved city, what's happening? Everything changes after that, he and many more Muslims all of a sudden are going through an identity crisis, randomly the police are arresting and humiliating them.

On one occasion Changes is arrested, stripped and searched. The experience shocks him into thinking where actually he belongs and what he should do to overcome this humiliation? The hatred and the revenge are gnawing his heart.

This is the story of his journey back to his homeland Pakistan and throws him directly into the clutches of extremist Muslims and the fight with the US military. Mira Nair of Salaam Bombay and Monsoon wedding tried to handle the issue and with care and delicacy and that Muslims should be perceived in a different light and repression can become aggression.

Xan Brooks and Peter Bradshaw discuss The Reluctant Fundamentalist Link to this