The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Coping with a time of Terrorism
For those who have read Mohsin Hamid's brilliant novel on which this film is based the story will be easier to follow than the somewhat disconnected screenplay that was written by Hamid with Ami Boghani and William Wheeler. Mira Nair directs, and knowing her previous work suggests that it is this very disconnect that she wishes to emphasize in this profoundly moving film - in these times of global unrest and fear because of terrorist acts we don't know who to trust and who to dislike, but the answer is that there is no right or wrong. Nair achieves this by beginning her film with a conversation between an American journalist Bobby (Liev Schreiber) and a Pakistani professor Changez (Riz Ahmed) in a setting of high tension in a bar in Lahore and our initial belief is that the Bobby represents the core we trust and with whom we identify, that Changez is the unknown `different culture' stranger who is suspect. In the course of the film that position is deeply altered. And that is where...

Moving and thought provoking
Reading the plot blurb at the rental store for this movie made it sound intriguing, but when I saw it was also directed by Mira Nair, who did such good jobs on the entertaining yet emotionally deep Monsoon Wedding, Water and The Namesake, I knew it would be good, but I didn't know how moving it would be, nor profound in it's deeper reminder that looks can be (and often are) deceiving.

Without wanting to say too much and give away the story which keeps the suspense and drama taut and fast paced, I want to add my 2cents worth to those who say this is a great story with interesting twists and layers of realistic emotion, leading to a vision of humanity that is perhaps more optimistic than is currently warranted (in reality we'd have seen the launch of a deadly drone near the ending...). It brings up issues of Western hegemony, terrorism and national security, personal ambition and integrity (and in this way reminds me of the less nuanced...

An Indictment of Post-9/11 Paranoia And Prejudice: The Powerhouse Novel Gets An Effective Adaptation
Adapting the critically acclaimed 2007 bestseller "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Pakistani author Moshim Hamid, director Mira Nair had a number of challenges to face. The novel is a complex and challenging look at a post-9/11 world and has been pretty universally praised and even studied on college campuses. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it is a book that instantly connected with the zeitgeist of attempting to understand how both the terrorist acts on that fateful day and the U.S. response to them had forever changed the world in which we lived. The story is told entirely through the eyes of a young Pakistani man who embraced the American dream before ultimately feeling betrayed by it. When trying to adapt such a seminal and personal work, it is virtually impossible to satisfy everyone. When a work becomes "important" (for lack of a better word), any adaptation will likely be scrutinized and judged to fall short. And indeed, the critical response to "The Reluctant...

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