Starring: Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, and Om Puri
Distributor: Rialto Films
Runtime: 130 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2013
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This is a political drama based on the novel by the same name by Mohsin Hamid, about a Princeton (US) graduate, Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed), son of a Punjab poet (Om Puri), who finds success in the corporate world of Wall Street, New York. He becomes romantically involved with Erica (Kate Hudson), a troubled photographer, who happens by accident to be the niece of the man who owns the firm he works for.
The film begins with the kidnapping of an expatriate American academic in Pakistan. Under suspicion with the CIA, Changez tells his story to an American journalist, Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) in Lahore. Changez is a Professor in Pakistan, who has lived the American Dream, but is now anti-American in his thoughts and teachings. Trained in American capitalism, he was exposed to the tragic events of the Twin Towers attack on September 11, 2001. He shuns the mass murder of so many, but he declares his awe of the audacity of the attack. To Changez, it was ” a ruthless act, surpassed only by its genius”.
Before 9/11, Changez was recruited and mentored by a hard-headed financier, Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland), to work as a business analyst on Wall Street. The attack of 9/11 altered Changez significantly. Suddenly, he is strip-searched at airports, treated with suspicion because he is from Pakistan, and no one cares any longer about where he works, or about his feelings toward the US. Even his girlfriend treats him differently. To Erica, he becomes an outsider, and she unwittingly defames his Pakistani identity in her photography. Angrily, he quits his job and returns to Pakistan. Back in Lahore, Changez urges Lincoln to have an open mind, while he tells him the story of his life, so that he can truly understand.
The film explores intelligently the complex world facing a Muslim man following the events of 9/11. Changez is caught between two cultures – a loved country (America) that has sustained him, and a beloved homeland (Pakistan) that has nurtured him. Life’s events have caused him to become deeply conflicted about the American Dream. Ahmed’s performance in the role is wonderful.
The movie focuses provocatively on similarities between anti-terrorism activists and political and religious extremists. After 9/11, the world changed, and it came to be characterized by “fundamentalism” of differing kinds. One took the form of anti-terrorism activities seen as necessary everywhere. Another drew its strength from a holy war declared defiantly against America. The film argues that the adherents of both sides believe passionately in their causes, and look to win the war against their enemies with hardened hearts. But the movie tells us also that both sides divide people into the good and the bad, and misperceive the humanity that lies in us all. Changez is forced reluctantly to choose his own kind of “fundamentalism”, just as Wall Street has, post- 9/11 has, and terrorism has. With the Twin Towers attack, attitudes changed, and personal relationships faltered as the events of 9/11 impacted on everyone who experienced them.
This is an involving movie that doesn’t supply easy answers to its questions. The director of the movie, forces the viewer to frame the questions she poses in different ways: Is global allegiance to the war on terrorism a fundamentalism that is opposed to treating all people equally? Was Changez torn genuinely between loyalty to his culture and commitment to the American Dream, and is there anything else behind his declaration of “awe”?
This is a wonderful movie that has a complex agenda lying provocatively beneath its surface. Its message unequivocally tells us that “God holds us all in his embrace”, and it communicates that message powerfully. The strength of it targets effectively the evils of political and religious extremism, personal prejudice, and racial discrimination.
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