I saw a screening of the film at the BFI film festival in London and Mira Nair's intro really did set the tone for the film. She mentioned how there have been countless accounts of the attacks from the viewpoint of those who died to protect democracy but what of all the innocent lives lost in the process? She wanted to give the viewpoint of the war on terror from the other side, who in one stroke of the brush have been deemed extremists or terrorists. She wanted to use this film as a platform to start a dialogue between the East and West, to tell a story of contemporary Pakistan which is caught between whether its identity should be pro or anti-American without realizing it has to choose neither but develop a "Pakistani identity".
And a dialogue it was. Quite literally. The journalist Changez talked to had perhaps become a reluctant fundamentalist in his own right, living in Lahore but after viewing the atrocities of the Taliban, reverting to the CIA. There are beautiful touches added to the film like linking religious fundamentalism with economic fundamentalism - like the ruthlessness of capitalism where money and success are the only motivation versus the blind hate of religious extremism, both ideologies pursued without regard for who suffers as a result.
It's a very fine balance to keep from tipping into either extreme and Mira Nair presented it beautifully. I read the book and I was afraid of the treatment - a British Asian playing the lead role did not conform to the image of Changez I had in my mind and I was afraid that the essence would be lost. But he managed to pull it off. The movie was adapted quite well. Every character had a story, nobody was good or evil, and everyone's behaviour had a consequence on the decisions made by other characters. It was a story of humanity where we are all the same yet cannot seem to get over the colour of the other person's skin.
As a director, Mira is blunt - she shows things as they are. Rather than seeing an aerial view of the Badshahi mosque or the glossy shops of Liberty, we see the gritty part of Lahore. The film is ambitious - set in five countries and telling a complex story but I think it succeeds. It's not that I don't have problems with the film but I highly doubt someone else could have told it so well. It seamlessly integrates the beautiful sounds of Pakistani music from the highs and lows of qawwali to the beautiful poetry of Faiz.
As a Pakistani who has worked on Wall street, I have seen reluctant fundamentalists pop up everywhere post-9/11 with the polarizing "with us or against us" Bush ideology, unapologetic racial profiling at airports, media portrayal of Pakistan as a cultural backwater, etc. I am glad someone is telling the story of how they came to be, how people who were once proud to be American withdrew back to their former identities, albeit reluctantly, but through the actions of the few people who unfortunately will have no interest in watching this movie because they are not interested in a dialogue. No, the only viewpoint that matters to them is their own.
And a dialogue it was. Quite literally. The journalist Changez talked to had perhaps become a reluctant fundamentalist in his own right, living in Lahore but after viewing the atrocities of the Taliban, reverting to the CIA. There are beautiful touches added to the film like linking religious fundamentalism with economic fundamentalism - like the ruthlessness of capitalism where money and success are the only motivation versus the blind hate of religious extremism, both ideologies pursued without regard for who suffers as a result.
It's a very fine balance to keep from tipping into either extreme and Mira Nair presented it beautifully. I read the book and I was afraid of the treatment - a British Asian playing the lead role did not conform to the image of Changez I had in my mind and I was afraid that the essence would be lost. But he managed to pull it off. The movie was adapted quite well. Every character had a story, nobody was good or evil, and everyone's behaviour had a consequence on the decisions made by other characters. It was a story of humanity where we are all the same yet cannot seem to get over the colour of the other person's skin.
As a director, Mira is blunt - she shows things as they are. Rather than seeing an aerial view of the Badshahi mosque or the glossy shops of Liberty, we see the gritty part of Lahore. The film is ambitious - set in five countries and telling a complex story but I think it succeeds. It's not that I don't have problems with the film but I highly doubt someone else could have told it so well. It seamlessly integrates the beautiful sounds of Pakistani music from the highs and lows of qawwali to the beautiful poetry of Faiz.
As a Pakistani who has worked on Wall street, I have seen reluctant fundamentalists pop up everywhere post-9/11 with the polarizing "with us or against us" Bush ideology, unapologetic racial profiling at airports, media portrayal of Pakistan as a cultural backwater, etc. I am glad someone is telling the story of how they came to be, how people who were once proud to be American withdrew back to their former identities, albeit reluctantly, but through the actions of the few people who unfortunately will have no interest in watching this movie because they are not interested in a dialogue. No, the only viewpoint that matters to them is their own.