The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Cast of Characters:
Changez Khan - Riz Ahmed
Erica - Kate Hudson
Bobby Lincoln - Liev Schreiber
Jim Cross - Kiefer Sutherland
Abu - Om Puri

Director - Mira Nair
Screenplay - William Wheeler
Based on the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Rated R for language, some violence and brief sexuality

      Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Kiefer Sutherland, and Academy Award nominee Kate Hudson star in the film adaptation of the worldwide best seller, The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

      The film centers on the young and ambitious Pakistani Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed) during two time periods, once current and the other told through flashbacks. At the beginning, Changez leaves his family's roots to take advantage of the American Dream. He falls in love with the artsy Erica (Kate Hudson) and wins his boss Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) over big time, gradually climbing up the corporate ladder to a comfortable job position. Then 9/11 happens and everything changes for Changez. He's humiliated by law enforcement and, although not aimed at him, his coworkers even sling out a few anti-Muslim bits. Despite everything he has worked hard for, it's these events that make him question everything that he has become.

      Fast forward to present day, Changez has a sit down meeting with Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber), an American journalist cooperating with the CIA on the whereabouts of a missing American professor. Now the leader of a questionable Pakistani activist movement, Changez may or may not have answers as to where the professor may be.

      Ambiguity can be a bit of a thorn in the moviegoers side. I mean, who wants to spend money on seeing a film where the filmmakers don't know what the hell to think? That being said, there's a difference between a filmmaker who doesn't know what direction to take (and there are certainly plenty of films that fall prey to that) and a filmmaker who presents the story as is and leaves it up to the viewer to decide who's right or wrong. At the very heart of this story is the complex character Changez Khan, torn between which side he should or shouldn't be on following the events of 9/11. At times we certainly are sympathetic to the humiliating moments Changez has forced upon him, but at the same there are moments later on where we also despise the choices he makes. It's a deeply conflicted performance, terrifically handled by Riz Ahmed. In fact, the moments between Ahmed and the underrated character actor Liev Schreiber are the strongest moments of the film providing a gradual buildup of tension paced just right. Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri, and Kate Hudson are also strong in their respective supporting roles. Remember that forgotten time long ago when Hudson could act like she did in her Oscar nominated turn in Almost Famous? Yeah, I forgot about that too. It's not a powerhouse performance or anything like that, but it at least reminds us this girl can act when given the right opportunity.

      The Reluctant Fundamentalist reminded me a bit of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. No, I'm not comparing the two, but I mentioned before in the previous post that Lee's Do the Right Thing presented the characters as they were without casting judgment on them, leaving that for the viewer to decide for themselves. Here the Americans aren't all portrayed as ignorant and the Muslims aren't all portrayed as machine gun waving, "Death to the Infidels!" screaming, gibberish chanting buffoons. This film is less about "the message" and more about Changez's character transformation throughout the film. That there is the real gem in this movie. I give The Reluctant Fundamentalist an A- (★★★½).