Review of My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) by Dr. A — 19 Aug 2011

A very unappreciated movie today... maybe even back in the mid 80's. It was ahead of its time.

A good story, great one I might ad, about East Asian communities living in England and the strife the have gone through in order to achieve a sense of belonging to a society which disses them.

In this movie Pakistanis in its majority are colluded with the mob and dirty deals, have acquired very westernized ways of living and detached from the traditional lifestyle, and although Omar who is seen as the possible character to break that mold due to his father, a once socialist journalist who appears to have been forced to leave Pakistan...(spoiler alert)... but seems he can't persuade his son about going to college.

But there's another topic which is also being overlooked here... interracial homosexuality which in the 80's was not seen as a problem, but the film hints that the issue is still behind closed doors and its the public's duty to open that door and look into it and accept a more diverse society... thankfully we've come a long way now.