Review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) by Thomas A — 06 Sep 2013

A decent suspenseful drama about the dilemma faced by a Pakistani man (Riz Ahmed) in deciding his allegiances after seeing how he and his fellow citizens were treated within the last decade or so. The theme is relevant today, but unfortunately the film itself tries to explain the psyche of the Muslim world merely through a two-hour duration of microcosmic conversation between an American (Liev Schreiber) and the Pakistani compounded with his occasional flashbacks.

The result is a quite odd alternating mixtures of fast-paced scenes and laidback ones. A worthy watch, especially for fans of Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty"...but if you are looking for something resembling even a modest thriller, this ain't it.