Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46638 in VHS
• Released on: 2000-01-25
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
Most generation gaps focus on conservative parents and radical kids, but My Son the Fanatic depicts the opposite: taxi driver Parvez (Om Puri) can't understand why his son has turned to Muslim fundamentalism, calling the Western world of their corner of London corrupt and driven by sex. Meanwhile, Parvez finds himself working for a hedonistic German businessman (Stellan Skarsgård from Breaking the Waves and Good Will Hunting) who has more or less hired a prostitute named Bettina (Rachel Griffiths from Hilary and Jackie and Children of the Revolution), with whom Parvez has become friends. As Parvez's wife also turns towards fundamental ways, and a Muslim holy man comes to live in their house, Parvez turns more and more to Bettina for solace. Their friendship turns more intimate, bringing the family conflict to a head. This could be little more than a midlife crisis fantasy, but My Son the Fanatic thickens its story with cultural details and well-developed characters. The performances are rich and affecting; Om Puri is charming and sympathetic, and makes Parvez's moral conflicts genuine and understandable. Though Bettina, as a hooker with a heart of gold, is a bit of a stereotype, Griffiths's integrity as an actress makes the character compelling. An affecting film that doesn't provide easy answers to the difficult questions it explores. Written by Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
The great Indian actor Om Puri, who has a face like a serried mountain range, gives a memorable performance as Parvez, a quiet Pakistani taxi-driver living in a dreary northern-England industrial town. For years, the assimilated Parvez has worked to provide for his family, only to have his son suddenly reject Western values and then compound the insult by inviting a group of hungry fundamentalist hangers-on into the house. The writer, Hanif Kureishi, and the director, Udayan Prasad, work the culture clash for comedy and for anguish, too-Parvez, waking up emotionally, falls in love with one of the prostitutes (Rachel Griffiths) he's been driving around, and the fundamentalists, including Parvez's son, go berserk. With Stellan SkarsgÅrd as a brutal German businessman. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A TRUE MARVEL WITH COMPLEX BUT REAL CHARACTERS
Made in 1997 (ps: pre-911) it is remarkable how a movie so simple in its narrative, and so in the shadow of critical cinema, could depict such smack-dab nuances of eastern immigrants at odds with a western setting or how the cultural assimilation of trans-national immigrants doesn't always look like a rainbow colored day at the beach.

But despite that seemingly ho-hum central tack, there are many conflicts studied very poignantly -- modern versus mediaeval, father versus son, fidelity versus emotional satisfaction, ethnic conservatism (ok, fanaticism) versus open minded cosmopolitanism, Good House Husband versus Bad Man Who Befriends Prostitutes, Decent Living Taxi Driver versus Someone Who Became Filthy Rich...and each is sublte yet hard-hitting in its simplicity.

Without giving away too much about the plot, there is no ordinary character in the movie, certainly no ordinary Muslim. The father (Parvez, played wonderfully by Om Puri) is a cabbie who flirts about in a relationship with a streetside floozy whom he finds more uplifting (no pun intended) than his standpat wife back home who disapproves of his free-wheeling ways and even finds his interests in jazz "too trumpety". The other Muslim, the son, is at loggerheads with his peers in throes of non-acceptance and instead gets inveigled into Islamic fundamentalism as an escape. This contrast is very, very credible, real and amusing.

Particularly noteworthy are Udayan's idiosynchratic implications about what constitutes "right" or "wrong" character. Parvez's prostitute girlfriend has a loving heart, a sharp mind and a vivacious presence despite her ostracization from the Good People Club. The son and his other right-wing Islamic acolyte buddies come off as annoyingly childish in a thoughtless "promiscuity" of their own.

For instance, they invite a Pakistani Maulvi to sermonize/"guide", and a hilarious TRUE moment pops up when the Maulvi requests the non-approving father for some help with his immigration into England.

Another VERY, VERY quiet 5 second scene that leaves an indelible impact is the depiction of male chauvinism dominating orthodox Islam where Parvez's wife is huddled in the kitchen for dinner, behind a closed door, and refuses to come out to dine with the men of the house in fear of doing something "inappropriate" in the presence of the supposed Maulvi.

The movie has many light-hearted moments and the cinematography is unexpectedly stunning. All this emotional, moral tussle between father, son, wife, romantic interest etc leads to a denouement that is hardly a resolution of sorts but is deeply moving. Everyone makes a choice (and I found the choice of Parvez's wife particularly startling) in favor of freedom from personal and social shackles. Made me think for days and recommend this movie to everyone I care about.

This is probably not your average East Meets West type ethnic take and certainly not a look into typical Muslim life as it makes no pretense of being. Yet, as a movie that tackles very touching, very identifiable themes of how simple convictions about life and love can sway people into/away from relationships, it comes HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me.

Ultimately a Ghetto Love Story - and an excellent one.....
'My Son the Fanatic' is a tremendous film. The power & message of the film was surely powerful in 1998. But in my American winter of 2002, this film strikes deep. I've been to the Docklands, Hackney & Vauxhall - this film captures the base racism & grime of marginal London, never as an excuse, but as a living fact, and never a wall to what really matters. Love, Truth, or what seems to be. There isn't a Soul in this film who isn't searching for those same things. But sadly, they search for it with very different dreams.

The beauty of this film is its careful study of loneliness, and how a handful of isolated poor forgotten people dream in so very different ways. Some look for it in drugs, prostitution, simply surviving, or the Purity of Islamic Fundamentalism. And/Or just simply Living, and making it Work. In this movie, all moral choices collide, the participants are that close to making it work. None of them are wholly wrong.

I'll reveal no more, just to say that the camera-work is lively and excellent. The pacing is good, the message is so alive, this film deserves to be seen. It raises troubling questions about Terrorism and Fanaticism, and answers none. But that is the honest confused place we all find ourselves. It's 2002, it's up to your heart where you go from here... This film perectly captures one world. What's yours?

The gentle humor adds to the humanity of this fine film
The theme of immigrant children rejecting traditional values is a common one. But in this 1997 British gem, there's a twist. This screenplay, by Hanif Kuresshi, tells a story of a Pakistani-British taxicab driver whose only son reverts to Moslem fundamentalism much to his father's displeasure. It's a modern story, and we've all become painfully aware of these issues lately.

Om Puri, with his weathered pock-marked face, has the ability to create a character that is easy to identify with. He's a foreigner, the victim of racial prejudice. He has also become alienated from his family. And yet, he is bursting with vitality and is full of wisdom. When his son breaks his engagement with an English girl and turns to fundamentalism, he's horrified as it is against the basic principles of the secular life he has chosen for himself. He has nobody to turn to as a friend with the exception of Rachel Griffiths, cast in the role of a prostitute he chauffeurs around. She, too, is alienated, and as their relationship grows, the story become more complex.

Many of the scenes are shot inside the cab, and even though it took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the fact that the driver's seat is on the right in England, it really gave me the feeling of what a cabdriver's day-to-day life is like. The cross-cultural conflicts are sharp and grating as the son invites a visiting holy man to stay in their house and the young extremists demonstrate for moral decency. I could certainly identify with the father's dilemma as he grappled with his own complex moral choices. There's gentle humor too, and it adds to the humanity of the film, although I could never call it a comedy. It's simply an offbeat story with some unlikely people dealing with very real issues. Definitely recommended.