The Fundamentals of Living

Film - The Reluctant Fundamentalist 

Director - Mira Nair

A chapter in history that has dominated the world's socio-political scene in the last decade and a half, Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells a personal tale of one man, against the backdrop of history. Set in a time when the world is going mad, it comments, through the eyes of its protagonist, on how the fundamentals of our life blind us from life itself.

The film begins in Lahore where an influential young Pakistani professor, Changez Khan, is suspected of aiding the kidnapping of a US citizen, who later meets an American journalist, Bobby Lincoln, to tell him his story. Although a volatile time, the duo find some privacy in a small cafe (rigged with cameras by the CIA) where Changez tells Bobby the tale of his innocence. We then travel back and forth from the present day Pakistan to New York City in 2001, when Changez moved to America with the proverbial 'American Dream'. However, his life sees a lot of ups and downs after the terror attacks of 9/11. A wall crops up dividing the eastern and the western worlds and Changez finds himself grinding in the middle. He has to pick a side, and what he chooses will decide how his life turns up.

The fractured narrative of the film works very well, thanks to the brilliant performer that Mira Nair has found in the form of Riz Ahmed. Omnipresent in every single frame of the film, you live his journey through his eyes and believe every word he says. However, the story, inspired from a novel by Mohsin Hamid, ends up being a better cultural commentary than the story of its protagonist. The personal element gets left out in the cinematic adaptation of the literary work, which at times does too much of the story telling in this visual medium.

Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri and Liev Schreiber all provide great assistance with their supporting roles, who aid in rolling the story forward. The photography is sound and you never get bored of the visuals in this seemingly long film. But throughout its duration, the film makes one significant point of the struggle of a man adrift in a world that is twirling in a hurricane.

Mira Nair does exceptionally well in building up this thriller by enlisting a large number of scenarios that would go into the 'how to make a terrorist' digest. The reluctance, however, comes not from the situation, but the conduct of the protagonist who is keen, observant, rational and above all, compassionate beyond his own knowledge.

A little heavy for those looking to watch a movie as a respite this weekend, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a fresh take on a stale subject of a Muslim individual finding his feet in a hateful, western society. But, missing it would mean missing a good film and some brilliant performances; especially by Riz Ahmed.

Rating - 3 out of 5

Published in DNA (Pune) on May 18, 2013