Review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) by Tarah M — 15 Apr 2013

Mira Nair has created a masterpiece with this film. It's one of the most important and best films I've seen in ages, especially in light of April 15th's attacks in Boston and Iraq. I don't use the word masterpiece lightly, but it really deserves it, from the music, to the cinematography to the stellar acting. Riz Ahmed delivers a phenomenal, nuanced, complicated, yet superbly controlled performance. Schreiber is at his best here. See this, as soon as you can.

This film will surely be compared with The Hurt Locker and other such post-9/11 US-Islamic thrillers with brains. It is certainly thrilling and intellectually stimulating, throughout. However, it is so much deeper and more multi-faceted than those films. In this film, you are immersed in the experience of coming from a culture that idealizes the US and the taste of seeing your wildest dreams come true. You feel what it is like to be disappointed and disillusioned when the US reminds you that you don't quite belong. This is followed by a return to your homeland, where you don't quite belong anymore either. At the core, it is about a man's struggle to be true to his values, not to the fundamentalism he finds in the US and in Pakistan, alike. I found myself empathizing more than sympathizing, detesting or pitying, which are so often the case when watching American films of this type.

The Q&A with the producers was very enlightening, especially in regards to the immense challenges casting and shooting in Pakistan, which compelled them to shoot almost all of the Lahore scenes in Old Delhi. Likewise, the serious issues they faced with the US government are quite disturbing as well. They deserve serious kudos for taking the independent road for financing, ensuring that the integrity of the story and the complexities of the characters remained intact.

Obviously, I recommend that you see this film. More than that, I encourage you to consider it, and your fellow citizens of the world with compassion and empathy. We're all an "other" to someone and it doesn't take as much as it might seem to become an oppressor, victim or friend.