My Son the Fanatic [DVD] [1998]

A great film based on real life

it's ok.

This is an excellent adaptation of Hanif Kureshi's first novel. Produced by BBC films it has high production values and a thought provoking performance from the lead actor. This is not a rom com whatever the synopsis says for this DVD. This is a social commentary and much the better for it.

Since I started doing reviews for Amazon, I find that I've come to specialise in reviewing films that I esteem highly, but which have for one reason or another slid into relative or actual obscurity. Here is a case in point."My Son the Fanatic", a 1998 film based on a short story by Hanif Kureishi, bears inevitable comparison with the better-known "East is East" which, like "My Son..", deals with the tensions between Traditional Eastern and Modern Western values in contemporary Britain, and the difficulty experienced by people from the former background trying to adjust to life in the latter. However, as often happens (at least in my opinion), the better film has been eclipsed by the lesser one. "East is East" is by no means a bad film, but in my view tends towards comfortable, easy-laugh and predictable territory, without ever really going into the darker interior of the subject matter it uses for entertainment. "My Son..." is a harder, darker and, given the recent history of race and cultural relations in Britain, more controversial, even inflammatory, film, uncompromising in its honesty and dealing head-on with factors in modern society that we'd rather joke about than really face.The story. Parvez (played by the ever-excellent Om Puri - in my view a really, really great actor who should be used a lot more than he is) is a first-generation Pakistani who scrapes a meagre living as a taxi driver in some un-named city in Northern England (a thinly-disguised Bradford). Despite being married and having a son (Farid, played by Akbar Kurtha) he is a profoundly lonely man, mired in a loveless marriage and an existence that revolves around work. An important part of his income derives from being regularly hired as a sort of cut-price chaffeur by an obnoxious German businessman (Schitz, scarily played by Stellan Skarsgard, another good actor we could benefit from seing more of). His only happiness comes from the solitary comforts of drinking whisky and listening to Blues music.Farid is integrating himself into British society and (like all teenagers) distancing himself from his parents, getting engaged to the daughter of a local senior policeman and playing Led Zepp riffs on an electric guitar. Parvez meets and strikes up an unlikely, platonic friendship with Sandra, a local prostitute. In their off-duty moments they find an old abandoned ruin in the nearby countryside and spend time sitting there, each talking to the other about their lives and revealing their innermost thoughts in a way that neither can do with anyone else.Suddenly, everything goes mad. Farid discovers that his prospective in-laws hate and despise him, and are disgusted that their daughter is going to marry a Paki. When his fiancee tries to defend them he is devastated. He breaks off their engagement and throws himself into Islamic fundamentalism, disposing of his guitar and all the vestiges of his former life. One of his new-found activities is to join the local Muslim brotherhood in trying to clean up the town by sweeping prostitutes from the streets, which brings him into conflict with his father, who is concerned for Sandra's safety. Parvez finds her under an even more immediate threat when she and he are hired, independently of each other, by Schitz; when the drunken German starts to physically abuse Sandra, Parvez goes to her aid...This is a deft, incisive film that goes right to the heart of every matter it touches upon. Om Puri's performance is almost unbearably touching; his attempts to reveal his innermost feelings to Sandra, using his hesitant and broken English and struggling to find the words he needs, reveals what it must be like to be an immigrant caught between values and generations, with a foot in each camp but accepted by neither (his wife has no time for him, pausing only to berate him for not making a better job of life, remaining a taxi driver while all his contemporaries have gone on to better things). Akbar Kurtha is similarly lustrous, giving a convincing performance as the vulnerable adolescent who experiences the pain of betrayal by those he trusted (not unlike Dr. Aziz, the Indian doctor of "A Passage to India", whose attempts to identify with the colonialists he regards as friends is thrown back in his face), and finding outraged solace in the company of extremists who are only too happy to exploit him for their own devious and destructive ends. And Rachel Griffiths, as Sandra, reigns in her usual strident approach to anything she plays in favour of portraying Sandra as a three-dimensional, believable and sympathetic character; hers is a finely-nuanced performance which matches Puri's blow-for-blow and makes this film an unforgettable, rewarding and poignant experience.I can't recommend this film highly enough. If you enjoyed "East is East" and fancy more of the same, only better, give this a go. You won't be disappointed.

Parvez was born in Pakistan and moved to London some twenty five years earlier. He has mostly assimilated into his new cultural milieu and considers religion to be a secondary aspect of his overall identity. So much so, our central character has become something of a part time pimp along with being a full time cab driver. Parvez's son Farid is a young man who is gravitating towards radical Islamism. Great Britain's secular society appalls him. The family seems doomed to be severely damaged by this conversion. Even Parvez's wife is joining the fundamentalists. He is so distraught that he seeks comfort from the prostitute, Bettina. Parvez's whole life is unraveling. Is there any hope?I've read a number of the reviews of My Son the Fanatic and none of them highlight Farid's terrorist activities. He and his fellow Islamic ruffians even throw a molotov cocktail through the window of a whore house and don't hesitate to physically attack women deemed slutty. Nor did the reviewers refer to the young man's blatant anti-Semitism. At the very most, they pointed out his alienation and hatred of modern allegedly decadent Western Civilization. In many respects, the reviews seemed to suggest that Farid is no more threatening than the existentially troubled hippies of the 1960s. What accounts for such naiveté in 1997? Political correctness? One can easily imagine Farid eventually becoming a nihilistic suicide bomber. Yes, I strongly advise you to see this film. It should help you more clearly comprehend the motivations of the Islamic fascists within our midst. My Son the Fanatic was a warning we should have heeded.

Unterricht

Wenn ich die anderen Rezensionen aufmerksam gelesen hätte, wäre mir sicher aufgefallen, dass dieser Film auf "normalen" deutschen DVD-Playern nicht abspielbar ist. Diese Information muss meines Erachtens unbedingt in der Produktbeschreibung angegeben werden (bei anderen Filmen findet man teilweise "Region: 2").

Before September 11th, this gem of a movie came out in England... so aptly describes how a young man is radicalized, and his fathers confusion. The way it is to be trapped between two cultures and never fully belonging to either. Sensitive work and an amazing profomance by Om Puri.

DVD nicht abspielbarLeider lässt sich der Film auf deutschen DVD Spielern nicht abspielen. Den Hinweis habe ich bei der Produktbeschreibung vermisst.