The Reluctant Fundamentalist

RELEASE DATE: January

RATING: 16L
GENRE: Drama
RUNNING TIME: 125 Min
STARRING: Riz Ahmed, Kat Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Om Puri
DIRECTOR: Mira Nair
WRITER: William Wheeler
BASED ON NOVEL BY: Mohsin Hamid
PRODUCER: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Anadil Hossain, Ami BoghaniWHAT GOES DOWN…

A young Pakistani man Changez Khan has worked hard at making it in corporate America and has now became a success, but along the way he finds conflict with the American dream. In the aftermath of 9/11 he finds himself  alienated and the victim of unjust suspicion, this forces him back to Pakistan; where he finds himself in the middle of a hostage crisis involving an American teacher.

THE PLAYERS…

Riz Ahmed is our leading man and he delivers a great performance, really draws you into this movie and makes it easy for you to connect with his character. He really worked well with the likes of Kat Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, but wasn’t overpowered by them, he connected well with them and came together to give some powerful scene’s.

Kate Hudson’s supporting role as the girlfriend of Changez (Riz Ahmed) was uhh a good one, she could’ve taken her performance to another level but the way Mr Riz Ahmed connects with his co-stars it takes her performance up a level, Riz and Kate’s performance together was good enough to make us say “awww” in their more romantic scene’s and speechless in their serious ones. All round Kate was good but could’ve been better.

Liev Schreiber has a small but important role in this movie as a writer/American government undercover agent guy, a simple and good performance from Liev. He’s always been good at expressing emotion, making it easy for us to understand the character. Majority of the focus is on Riz Ahmed, so when you get to see the likes of Liev it’s a simple supporting role but his performance compliments the story well.

Mr. Kiefer Sutherland aka Mr. Consistent, gives you nothing less than a powerful performance even as a supportive role. He plays the Boss of Changez Khan of the firm he works for in America. Riz and Kiefer’s scenes together were great, their performances complimented each other well and gives the story line the performances it deserves.

The director Mira Nair shot this movie brilliantly, giving a phenomenal visual representation of Pakistan, the culture and the life in Pakistan. The way the 9/11 tragedy was shown was done really well, it shows both points of view, from the American people and the Pakistani people,  and how ethnic people were harrassed and treated badly no matter what the situation. You get a really good view of that time and what that whole situation did to a nation and individuals.

WHY OWN IT…
This movie is a really very shot, powerful performances and a great story line, definitely a movie you want to have in your collection. One of those you can watch 3 years from now and still feel that emotion and storyline. If you a lover of movies with a great story, and characters you can connect with, then this is a must have.

SPECIAL FEATURES…
Unfortunately there’s no special features on the DVD but hey the movie is good enough to forgive that.

RATING:
8/10