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MY SON THE FANATIC Send This Review to a Friend
Films that tap into ethnicity revealingly are a favorite of mine, and when so fine an artist as Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette") writes a screenplay, there is special promise. In "My Son the Fanatic," a view of members of a Pakistani family in England's industrial north, the promise is for the most part fulfilled by Kureishi and director Udayan Prasad.
The key figure is Parves, a taxi driver played with conviction by noted Indian actor Om Puri. Parves becomes increasingly fed up with his teenage son Farid (Akbar Kurtha), who has turned religious fundamentalist. Complications are piled on. Parvez, who drives passengers to assignations with prostitutes, becomes involved with one of the whores, Bettina, depicted with searing realism by Rachel Griffith, an actress who keeps demonstrating her range. A visiting German businessman is played by Stellan Skarsgard, who was in "Breaking the Waves," and the part of Parvez's resentful wife is acted by Gopi Desai.
Just being escorted into this milieu makes the film interesting, and the fine cast heightens the experience. The social, cultural and religious conflicts that come into play are illuminated with powerful effect. Unfortunately, the drama turns excessively melodramatic. But for most of the way "My Son the Fanatic" is involving and moving. I left with a feeling of having gotten to know an intriguing set of characters portrayed with insight and honesty. A Miramax release.
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