The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012) User Reviews

...on fundementalism

[cinematic_aficionado · 7/10 · 11 May 2013]

Whilst it is tempting to dismiss this as just another 9/11 related tale, it goes a little deeper than one might think.

A young Pakistani whose upward path to wealth in the finance industry in New York is interrupted by the atrocities of September 11, 2001 who then becomes the Asian looking man with a beard, the centre of everyone's suspicions. The country he had come to grow so fond of, suddenly puts him in a dark corner, which raises some uneasy questions; is hatred the response to hatred, or extremism the cure to extremism? A single event, with a chain of events that followed caused him to question everything.

This is a story about two extremes. On the one hand is the religious fundamentalism which drives people to kill for the sake of dogma and blind obedience to a book whilst on the other hand lies the financial fundamentalism which drives people to gamble the livelihoods of others for the sake of individual profit maximisation and wealth accumulation. The former type of extremism is well noted and condemned, whilst the latter is noted but not so openly condemned although it is possible that it is causing more damage than religious fundamentalism. Regardless where one stands on such issues this film puts a young man in the middle of two extremes.

Changez is a conflicted soul and whilst he starts out as a financial fundamentalist, should he not swap one extreme for another? Can he realise that fanaticism is harmful no matter whichever root it has?

An interesting, and very relevant film.

The War on Ignorance

[dharmendrasingh · 8/10 · 14 June 2013]

What a shame, though how predictable, that the multiplexes chose not to show Mira Nair's brave and provocative political thriller about the intricacies of fighting extremist Islam.

Nair uses Mohsin Hamid's fictional novel to explore very real Western attitudes towards the East in the ongoing 'war on terror'. She has directed a film of huge cultural, political and moral significance at a critical juncture between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

Rising star Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) gives a memorable lead performance as Changez, a Pakistani immigrant in New York, who has an identity crisis in the wake of 9/11. He returns to live in Lahore when an MIT professor has been captured and held ransom there by terrorists, who use him as leverage to make demands of the US.

Posing as a journalist, Secret Service Agent Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) visits Lahore to interview Changez, who has developed a reputation for being anti-American. The US authorities believe that Changez, if not a terrorist, at least knows something about the kidnapping. They exert pressure on him by harassing his family, a move which only deepens his hatred.

During their interview, Changez asks Bobby to make a judgement about him only after hearing his entire story, and Changez's reminiscence allows for the film to unfurl as a flashback of epic proportions.

Raised in a secular, literate Muslim household in Pakistan, Changez finds it easy to break the covenants of his religion. He consumes alcohol, eats pork and sleeps with non-Muslims, everything Islam forbids. He wins a scholarship to study at Princeton in the late 90s, where he claims never to have scored a B.

There he is headhunted to work for a prestigious valuation firm where he ensures a rapid promotion by impressing his boss (Kiefer Sutherland). On the day of his promotion the towers come down. He tells Bobby that instead of feeling sadness, he felt awe. 'David had struck Goliath'.

Ahmed gave his most famous performance in Lions, but this is his greatest. As an 'Asian' (I abhor the term but include it for your convenience) man myself, I have long had to suffer stereotypical performances by brown-skinned actors, who are used by ignorant directors to add colour and Schadenfreude to their ignorant stories. Ahmed transcends all that. This time we're analysing the reactions of White actors.

Changez's hatred of America germinates slowly, against his will, as his life slowly falls apart. Colleagues turn on him. The bond he had with his widowed girlfriend Erica (Kate Hudson) withers. Ordinary citizens view him as the enemy. His choice to move back to Pakistan is made for him.

Nair purposely shows much of Changez's life back home, as one of her clear aims is to challenge some key stereotypes. Changez's father (Om Puri) is a distinguished poet, not a farmer or rickshaw puller. The family is quite well off, not destitute. And the country is generally shown to be colourful, vibrant and civilised, instead of corrupt, backward and dangerous, as we normally see.

The horror of the recent Woolwich (London) terrorist attack may do something to restrict the impact of this excellent film. Paradoxically, the attack serves to reinforce the arguments of the film. It makes several points, makes them powerfully and forces you to in future question what you are told.

Simply Beautiful !!

[sandybanu · 8/10 · 17 May 2013]

This beautiful movie is about how the new era of fear is dividing East and West, featuring UK-based writer Mohsim Hamid's critically acclaimed book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, about the impact of Sept 11th on Muslims living abroad post 9/11 attacks & its psychological and political damage. It's a tale of mixed loyalties and one man's journey into the heart of the conflict.

Hamid has published a novel about the aftermath of September 11th. It's based on a character whose life mirrors his own accomplishments, but whose subsequent journey and fate is very different. The book is entitled "The Reluctant Fundamentalist".

The main character, Chengez, is living in New York at the time of the attacks. The new western hostility towards his country, to his people, and to an ancient and complex civilization shocks Chengez, to the core. He feels as though he has to take sides. Then, quite simply, he has a crackup, followed by a mysterious journey back to Pakistan that may or may not lead to the embrace of fundamentalism.

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter . . .

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he works at the elite valuation firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. The romance is negligible; Erica is emotionally unavailable, endlessly grieving the death of her lifelong friend and boyfriend, Chris. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

Told in a single monologue, the narrative never flags. Changez is by turn's naive, sinister, unctuous, mildly threatening, overbearing, insulting, angry, resentful, and sad.

Changez is in Manila on 9/11 and sees the towers come down on TV. He tells the American, "...I smiled. Yes, despicable as it may sound, my initial reaction was to be remarkably pleased... I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, the fact that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees..." When he returns to New York, there is a palpable change in attitudes toward him, starting right at immigration. His name and his face render him suspect.

He exorcises that feeling and once again appreciates his home for its "unmistakable personality and idiosyncratic charm." While at home, he lets his beard grow. Advised to shave it, even by his mother, he refuses.

His company sends him to Istanbul for another business valuation; his mind filled with the troubles in Pakistan and the U.S. involvement with India that keeps the pressure on. Beautiful screenplay and great Urdu- English blend of dialogues makes it really worth a watch on the big screen.

No simple question. No simple answer.

[rogerdarlington · 2 June 2013]

Four years after I read the impressive novel by Mohsin Hamid, I went to see the film which is based on the book. I wondered how a novel, which is essentially one long monologue by an educated Pakistani called Changez Khan with no other voices whatsoever, would be turned into a big screen offering but reckoned that, if they could do it for such complex works as "Life Of Pi" and "Cloud Atlas", it could work for Hamid's subtle narrative. So it proved.

The 'conversation' in Lahore has been effectively opened out with shooting not just in Pakistan and India but the United States and Turkey, while very effective use is made of music, starting with a dramatic opening scene. The essential clash of cultures, via a confrontation between the reluctant fundamentalist (played by Riz Admed) and the ambiguous American Bobby (Liev Schreiber), is retained, but the film is less opaque than the book, with it being (eventually) much clearer where the two main protagonists stand in the 'war on terror'.

Although the political messages are signposted more simplistically in the film than in the novel, this is still a work that challenges preconceptions about the capitalist West and the religious East and ultimately about ends versus means and good versus evil. Considerable credit should go to Indian director Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding" - another culture-conflict movie) and, as well as the excellent main roles, there is strong support in minor roles filled by Kiefer Sutherland and Kate Hudson. Although the turning point for Changez is the attack on the Twin Towers, subsequent events in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere have only served to underline the need for a better understanding of what motivates fundamentalism and how best it should be opposed.

So do see "Zero Dark Thirty" (which I thought was excellent), but also take the trouble to find the much less high profile film "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". At one point in the movie, Changez is asked by an American official: "How do you feel about the United States of America?" It is not a simple question. This film does not offer a simple answer.

Ultimately unsuccessful adaptation of a fine book

[guyau-399-68372 · 6/10 · 6 October 2013]

Mira Nair is a fine film-maker, with a lavish eye for detail, so evident in the opening scenes of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, but what was she thinking in butchering an intriguing, thought-provoking book by adding a sexed-up terrorist sub-plot that undermines the power and themes of the story.

This action movie subplot – about a kidnapped American professor and attempts by the CIA to find him – is Katherine Bigelow at her worst, and Hollywood at its most mediocre. Completely non-existent in the novel, it takes up half the movie, and ends with an implausible shoot-out, and some tedious speechifying beloved of bad American movies.

Nair should have stuck to the main story of how the war on terror soured the Pakistani middle class's love affair with America, as seen through the eyes of one man. Critical of America's response to 9/11, which alienated moderate Muslims, the movie is at its best when it explores the protagonist's struggle to succeed at Princeton and on Wall Street, and his subsequent disillusionment in the face of post-9/11 hostility. Riz Ahmed puts in a fine performance, as do most of the actors, with the exception of a miscast Kate Hudson as the somewhat-too-old girlfriend struggling to commit after the death of her high-school sweetheart.

The Pakistan scenes (shot in India) are wonderfully evocative, as is the use of Qawwali music on the stunning soundtrack, but a silly action story detracts from the main plot and characterizations, which required much more exploration and depth for this movie to really succeed.

How he learned lo hate America!

[petarmatic · 7/10 · 11 November 2013]

This film has an alternative title which is written above. It is difficult to write about this film since my story is similar to the plot we watched in it. Hovewer, mine was different, but I still had to leave the USA, and I really never want to go back there. What remains for me is to talk to my children via skype and see my kids may be once in a year. Many parents are convicted to that destiny, USA is simply not very welcoming to many who wants to succeed in it. Many people went back from the USA to their home countries. And are separated from their loving parent.

This is a perfect opportunity to say to all who wants to dream their American dream, to dream it with their families and not by themselves. If you want to emigrate, emigrate en mass with all of your family, not by yourself.

This film was very good! It deals with post 9/11 USA. It is obvious that it will be a different country since then, and for ever it will be. I would not recommend to live in it unless you were born there. I am so glad we had a film which showed all that, and that is this film.

Surprising, moving and clever

[serepink-1 · 9/10 · 21 October 2012]

When I read on the Venice Film Festival schedule that the opening film, the Reluctant Fundamentalist, was going to be about 9/11, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. There have been just too many films, books, short stories, documentaries and so on on the subject and I didn't feel there was much left to say without risking to be too rhetorical or predictable. I attended the screening expecting a mediocre film, but what I watched instead was a surprising, moving, complex story that deals with a series of issues, the most important of which is not 9/11 but human emotions.

The film is about Changez, a university teacher in Lahore who also appears to be right at the centre of the conflict between Pakistani and Americans, as another teacher was kidnapped and most of Changez's students are being watched carefully by the CIA. Then Changez meets Bobby, an American journalist who will end up to have more in common with him than we first thought, and we learn about Changez's past in Pakistan and America, to find out that there's so much more to both of them.

There are several reasons why the film worked for me, but the main one would be that it doesn't only focus on one side of the story, but forces the viewer to assume both sides at different points. I have to admit I immediately sided with the journalist at the start, and I think it's because of the blurry way in which the film starts, that immediately makes us suspect there might actually be something that Changez's students are hiding. The viewer is literally thrown into a strange world that he doesn't understand, and the first thing he does is to take the side of something he does understand and that he is familiar with, and that is Bobby, who seems to be a journalist and whose background we seem to be able to understand. In a way, we are almost relieved when he appears, as before that moment everything moved really quickly and the story wasn't very clear yet. I found this a clever choice, as everything will be reversed at the end. But we do change sides quite soon in the story, as we get to know Changez's past and find that there was something we can recognize in it too: he went to university in America, he was successful, he was in love with the "American dream" and he spent many years in the country. When he talks to the journalist he makes an unexpected reference to CSI Miami, something that was in a way unexpected but also reassuring in the context of kidnapping, bombing and revolutionary ideas. His character is not as intimidating or mysterious as we first thought he was, and we actually find that it's easy to relate to him too. In a way, both Changez and Bobby look slightly out of place in the bar in Lahore, and yet we get the impression that if any of them said something wrong, something really bad would happen.

When we go through Changez's past abroad, we do get a sense of his character through the small things he does or says, in a way. He seems to be a very positive, successful, ambitious character that means well, dreams big and is attached to his family, but we find out quite soon that he is also a cold, calculating person who knows exactly what he wants and won't stop until he gets it. It starts at work, when he suggests to fire a huge amount of people to make a company be more productive, without thinking of the repercussions on people's lives. It continues in his love life, when he gets together with a girl whose previous boyfriend had died a few months earlier, and when she feels like she is cheating and can't have sex with him he doesn't comfort her but suggests to her to "pretend I'm him". Just like Changez, his love story is flawed from the very start.

And if Changez is flawed and living an illusion who is doomed to end, his love interest Erica (played by Kate Hudson) is also a broken, damaged character who doesn't even really get to redeem herself at the end. Her very reaction to his suggestion shows her inability to move forward and makes her sad and depressed. We understand straight away that the relationship means something different to her than what it means to him, and this is proved in the wonderful scene of her gallery opening, that is probably one of my favorite scenes in the film, where she portrays her love story as a hollow, shallow, cold pretense and also marks its end and a point of non return for Changez as well.

Our sympathies change as the story evolves, we don't know who to trust and who to dislike, but the answer is that there is no right or wrong. That is, I think, what the ending wants to show. Some people will see it as a positive one, others will see it as the beginning of the end. Different people will get different messages from this film and understand it in different ways, and I think that's what the director wanted. As for me, I'm probably a pessimist, but as the credits scrolled down and I prepared to leave the cinema, the scene that came to my mind (and that sums up the whole film to me) was the one in which Changez asked his students, during a lecture, to forget about the "American Dream" and help him build/find a "Pakistani Dream" instead.

Solid, objective movie about post 9/11 discrimination

[david-tsbernardino · 6/10 · 24 June 2013]

Expecting a somewhat boring movie, The Reluctant Fundamentalist really did a fine job impressing the audience. Here we find a very well written triangle between the American dream, religion and love, centered in a muslin young man, with a surprisingly good performance by lead actor Riz Ahmed. Straight to the point, the Reluctant Fundamentalist dissects what happened to the muslin citizens in the United States before and after the 9/11, taking this main character as an example, showing the immediate discrimination all these citizens suffered and somewhat continue suffering, ultimately leading them to return to their home countries and forget the so wished American dream. What's good in the movie is that it doesn't take an anti-American pretentious way to show its point. In fact, it is really very objective while concerning these somewhat political matters, and that's really good to see. And besides all that there is a very interesting personal story to watch. After all, this is a great character driven movie, and it succeeds in that way. Very solid.

A bold and honest beginning to a dialogue

[sal017 · 10/10 · 23 October 2012]

I saw a screening of the film at the BFI film festival in London and Mira Nair's intro really did set the tone for the film. She mentioned how there have been countless accounts of the attacks from the viewpoint of those who died to protect democracy but what of all the innocent lives lost in the process? She wanted to give the viewpoint of the war on terror from the other side, who in one stroke of the brush have been deemed extremists or terrorists. She wanted to use this film as a platform to start a dialogue between the East and West, to tell a story of contemporary Pakistan which is caught between whether its identity should be pro or anti-American without realizing it has to choose neither but develop a "Pakistani identity".

And a dialogue it was. Quite literally. The journalist Changez talked to had perhaps become a reluctant fundamentalist in his own right, living in Lahore but after viewing the atrocities of the Taliban, reverting to the CIA. There are beautiful touches added to the film like linking religious fundamentalism with economic fundamentalism - like the ruthlessness of capitalism where money and success are the only motivation versus the blind hate of religious extremism, both ideologies pursued without regard for who suffers as a result.

It's a very fine balance to keep from tipping into either extreme and Mira Nair presented it beautifully. I read the book and I was afraid of the treatment - a British Asian playing the lead role did not conform to the image of Changez I had in my mind and I was afraid that the essence would be lost. But he managed to pull it off. The movie was adapted quite well. Every character had a story, nobody was good or evil, and everyone's behaviour had a consequence on the decisions made by other characters. It was a story of humanity where we are all the same yet cannot seem to get over the colour of the other person's skin.

As a director, Mira is blunt - she shows things as they are. Rather than seeing an aerial view of the Badshahi mosque or the glossy shops of Liberty, we see the gritty part of Lahore. The film is ambitious - set in five countries and telling a complex story but I think it succeeds. It's not that I don't have problems with the film but I highly doubt someone else could have told it so well. It seamlessly integrates the beautiful sounds of Pakistani music from the highs and lows of qawwali to the beautiful poetry of Faiz.

As a Pakistani who has worked on Wall street, I have seen reluctant fundamentalists pop up everywhere post-9/11 with the polarizing "with us or against us" Bush ideology, unapologetic racial profiling at airports, media portrayal of Pakistan as a cultural backwater, etc. I am glad someone is telling the story of how they came to be, how people who were once proud to be American withdrew back to their former identities, albeit reluctantly, but through the actions of the few people who unfortunately will have no interest in watching this movie because they are not interested in a dialogue. No, the only viewpoint that matters to them is their own.

"My side was chosen for me"

[dvc5159 · 7/10 · 30 May 2013]

Mira Nair's remarkable "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" opens with the swift kidnapping of an American professor at a university in Lahore, Pakistan, then shifts its attention to another professor, American- educated Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed), who proceeds to tell his life story to American journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber). Khan's ordeal is the basis for Nair's intelligent and intriguing thriller, which poses many questions that easily pop up but are difficult to answer.

What is fascinating about the movie is how Nair makes the audience involved and invested in the main character Changez. The first half of the film depicts him as a striving youth who wants to make it in the big leagues of 2001 Wall Street financing, complete with a boss to impress and a love interest. Changez is a likable fellow in the first half - earnest, do-gooder and all-in-all an average Joe trying to make it like the rest of us. Then came that unfortunate day. He is transformed into a brooding, contemplating young adult, questioning where he stands and what he represents. He then returns to Lahore as a university professor, where he uses his lectures to condemn the American policies. A radical, albeit a subtle and rational one - he becomes very popular and respected at the university to the point where students are willing to put themselves before him.

It is quite the challenge for lead Riz Ahmed, yet he remarkably carries the whole movie on his shoulders without diminishing its core virtues. Ahmed has a certain charisma in his speech and mannerisms that makes it difficult for anyone to dislike him disagree with him. He is wise to perform Changez as a outwardly humble person, but with raging flames in his eyes. If the powers that be are right, he has high potential to become a leading man in the near future.

That's not to say almost everyone else in the film are saints or sinners as well. There are no heroes and villains in the movie, just normal, sometimes misguided people shaped by some very unfortunate circumstances. Take Changez's artist love interest Erica (kate Hudson) for example. In one scene she expresses conflicts with her relationship to Changez, but reveals surprising depths rather than being predictable given the film's topic. Even the reporter interviewing him has his fair share of problems. They're only human after all.

I am admittedly not familiar with Mira Nair's filmography, the only film of hers that I have seen prior to this was "The Namesake" a great film about the son of Indian immigrants who has a culture clash between his family's culture and that of the land he was born in. Nair sort of revisits this theme for this movie, but this time she makes it darker, and throws in American prejudice and hostility post-9/11 into the mix to complicate things further. This is not a film where matters are solved easily and wounds heal fast. It also ends as it should, should the audience choose their perspective of what Nair shot.

Nair, along with her screenwriters (including the original novelist on whose book this was based on), her cinematographer, and her composer Michael Andrews, all not only provides an emotional yet unglamorous depth to Changez but also that of his environments as he progresses year by year - director and crew have transformed the locations into more than just a backdrop, they are characters by themselves, they live and breathe among the troublesome paths that lay ahead.

A key theme for the movie is exploring the fundamentals. Changez's boss (Kiefer Sutherland) believes in those financial principles to make money. A suspected terrorist leader later mentions to Changez somewhere along the lines of "to live based on the fundamentals" of their religion. Changez is visibly upset by both men's statements and his stance is never resolved. Perhaps that is why he is "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". A movie's title has rarely been more apt than this.

This topical and important film shows that there is no good nor bad side. People just do bad things when they get caught up in unfortunate events. Nair shows the film from one perspective that the major audience is not used to, but doesn't overtly forsake the other side. Nair, an Indian-born filmmaker, is to be commended for showing a respectful yet somewhat honest portrayal of Pakistan during these times of real-life conflict between the two. It's clear that she crafts the film with care for both content and characters.

Halfway through the movie, Changez tells Lincoln "You picked your side, mine was chosen for me." People either have a firm stand, buckle under the pressure of authority and emotion, or is forced to take it without options. Where do we stand on this issue as a whole?

Excruciatingly Slow Propaganda Vehicle

[dansview · 5/10 · 17 June 2017]

Propagandist garbage. What a colossal bore. By the way, who said that Wall Street is the American dream? Did this brainy immigrant ever visit Iowa and ask them what their American dream is? Perhaps owning a farm and loving Jesus is it.

He already admitted that he understands what makes America great. He said it in his interview. I'll give credit to the writers or filmmakers for that. He explains that America will give a talented guy like him an equal opportunity to succeed. Which it did.

But the rest of the film is about denigrating capitalism, and championing Third World pride. OK. Some Americans mistook him for a terrorist. That's unfortunate, but not worth giving up his American dream.

The pacing was ridiculously slow. The manipulative sympathy-pandering was insulting. Who asked this guy to come to America, and who told his country to be a Third World embarrassment? It is what it is.

I'm so sick of self-righteous movie propaganda. Talk about stacking the deck. Of all the American girlfriends to get, he finds one who bases an entire photography gallery exhibit on his ethnic identity, and treats it like a cartoon. What are the odd of that? But it certainly fits into the intention of demonizing Americans.

The lead foreign guy was good. His demeanor and facial expressions seemed to convey true soul and feeling. You felt his pain and confusion. Why use Liev Schreiber? A Jewish guy in Pakistan? Of all the actors.

The opening was good. I didn't know what exactly was going on, but the music was great. It shows a traditional Pakistani party setting, with emotional crooner music highlighted.

You will appreciate Kate Hudson as a slightly beefy, serious underdog. I've never seen her in anything other than romantic comedies.

The Kiefer Sutherland character is portrayed as some kind of capitalist demon. Some credit is due to the makers for having his character tell about his upbringing and longing for financial stability.

The bottom line is that this film slams you over the head with a socio-cultural, political point of view. Americans are ignorant of the beautiful nuances of Third World culture. Brown skin and primitive beliefs are ultimately cooler than modern Western culture. Americans think everyone from a Muslim country takes his commands from the Koran.

Avoid this pathetic snooze-fest, or steer your friends away.

Coping with a time of Terrorism

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 2 May 2013]

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 the power of the message is so affecting. But we must go through flashbacks of eleven years to understand the real drama.

Changez Khan (the very handsome and very fine actor Riz Ahmed) lives with his poet father Abu (Om Purl) and mother Ammi (Shabana Azmi) in Pakistan. The family is poor but educated and Changez decides to go to America to find his place in the corporate world of money and success - and help support his family (his sister is ready to marry but the family can ill afford a traditional wedding). Changez arrives in America, attends university, and rises rapidly, gaining a position with a Wall Street company that specializes in financial advising for business internationally. The head of the company Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) personally picks Changez after testing his skills and sends Changez on missions to the Philippines etc where he examines the finances, cuts waste (and jobs of workers) and makes the businesses run efficiently, increase profits, but sacrificing the working class. On one such mission Changez is asked to analyze a publishing house in Istantbul, the owner Nazmi (Haluk Bilginer) has translated Changez' fathers poetry into Turkish, and pleads with Changez not to destroy his publishing house. Cross demands Changez shut it down and Changez refuses and submits his resignation. As he prepares to pack to return, jobless, to the US he is watching television and the twin towers of 9/11 are being attacked. His attempts to return to the US are met with police and airport interrogations since he is not a native born American, and this allows the viewer to witness the horrible and demeaning treatment 'foreigners' received in the wake of 9/11.

Changez does return to New York and has another setback with his photographer artist girlfriend Erica (Kate Hudson), herself deeply bruised by the loss of her lover in a car crash she caused in the recent past, who has an art opening that includes videos and images of bits of conversation she has shared with Changez - information which in the exhibition further underlines the concept of Changez as a potential terrorist. Changez flees to Pakistan, becomes an anti-violence but fiery professor whose students seek to rid their Pakistan of the American intruders. And this is where the conversation at film's beginning ultimately makes sense (it is now 2011). The manner in which the film ends is left for the viewer to experience. As in the book there are many sidebar stories and characters that underline the stories of both Bobby (who has been talked into joining the CIA) and Changez who moves from his love of the American Dream and his sweetheart, to his spiritual commitment to his Pakistan. These characters, as well as many others in this film, allow us to see there is no one way to view acts as right or wrong. It is all perception and hopefully this brilliant film will assist us in understanding the confusion that deeply affects us all everyday as we walk around the topic of terrorism. Grady Harp, May 13

http://filmfanboy.com/the-reluctant-fundamentalist/

[SConIrish · 7/10 · 9 June 2013]

In the wake of the Boston bombings Mira Nair's topical political drama arrives in cinemas featuring a standout performance from Riz Ahmed, a British actor in the central role. Adapted from Mohsin Hamid's novel of the same name, the story focuses on a young Pakistani man Changez (Ahmed) who sets out to achieve the American dream in pre 911 America only to bear witness to the dreams nightmare and the emergence of xenophobia after the planes hit the twin towers.

In some ways Nair's latest film continues the themes explored in her excellent 2006 film The Namesake, detailing the Americanization of a young man at the sacrifice of his cultural identity. Here Princeton, Wall Street, a white girlfriend and money represent the dream. The story takes place amidst a kidnapping of an American citizen by extremists. Changez a Muslim relays his story to an American journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) in a café in Pakistan. Lincoln might be working for the CIA. The films structure is set in motion via flashbacks. The central mystery remains open, what does Changez believe in? Who is he? What motivates him? Is he an extremist or a true lover of America?

Nair's film is most compelling tracking Changez rise to the top of Wall Street. Initially embraced in the West he gravitates seamlessly to downsizing companies and maximizing profit margins as a true capitalist. He sees America as the land of opportunity giving him "an equal chance to win." He has the admiration of his mentor Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) who is himself an outsider. Cross declares "you have a gift for this a very lucrative gift." On his rise he meets the attractive photographic artist Erica (a miscast Hudson). He leaves his old life behind consisting of a poet father and a loving mother and sister. He seems to have it all then the planes hit the twin towers. Suddenly outside his insular Wall Street office the rest of America seem suspicious of the dark skinned man and soon he becomes a person of interest. He is crudely strip searched at the airport, falsely arrested and has his tires slashed as the hateful driver yells out "Osama."

The film flashes back and forth between the growing tension in the café and Changez's past life. The best thing about the film is Ahmed, a relative newcomer whose turn here foreshadows a strong career. He effortlessly details the tonal shifts in the story and his character. The scenes in the café with Schreiber are absorbing. The letdown comes in the dull romance between Changez and Erica. Perhaps the casting of Hudson assisted in getting the film financed but her sullen performance unbalances the film.

Nair is a gifted filmmaker and uses music and location to great effect. Her Monsoon Wedding cinematographer Declan Quinn lends his considerable skill and the production design from Michael Carlin is first rate. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is flawed and problematic but it has something to say about the messy complex world in which we live.

Nice story but not very well filmed

[best_ciit · 4/10 · 19 October 2014]

I am not a regular reviewer so please excuse my English writing.

Well, yes. A very good "fiction" story. Riz Ahmad did good job. Om Puri sir, excellent as always. The story is so powerful that it really dragged me to IMDb to appreciate it. I love the Qawwali from Coke Studio from the very famous group.

Most of the "Pakistani" parts are filmed in India so there are flaws. Let's come to the poor location selection, bad choices of characters and worst dialogs as always in the Hollywood movies made for South Asia.

• Shabana Aazmi was a huge misfit because the family is a Lahori family but Shabana's Punjabi is not that up to the mark.

• Secondly, the universities in Pakistan (even the worst ones) don't look like the one shown in the movie. Even if I assume it's a fiction movie, there must me something close to reality. You can check google images of "Pakistani universities".

• Thirdly, why, when we show people from Pakistan, there are Muslim caps everywhere :). Guys, there are hardly few people in Lahore who wear Muslim caps but I know the director have tried to show the religious extremism but it's not the best way.

• And Shabana says to Riz on the phone, "Electricity is not available and Eid Mubarak". I can assure that the time shown in the movie, at that time there was hardly any loadshedding in Pakistan. In fact between 1998 - 2008, most of the people forgot about power cuts. Power cuts started from 2008. Even if there is a powercut, a Princeton graduate with a huge salary can't afford a power generator in his house in Lahore :)

• Riz Khan's acting is good but he recited a very common verse of Iqbal that was wrong. I am sure even a lot of Indians know the correct version.

I would say very good writing but poor direction and bad location choices.

It's worth the trip.

[JohnDeSando · 23 May 2013]

The aftermath of 9/11 is an ongoing process: For Americans, the hardening of the heart and the strengthening of its defenses is a given; for a Pakistani like Changez (Riz Ahmed) his love of America is challenged in his professional and personal life. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, adapted from the Moshin Hamid novel, is a cultural deconstruction of values, beliefs, and patriotism framed in a formulaic thriller.

The character arc for Changez extends relentlessly throughout the film. Changez's "change" is the heart of the film, and director Mira Nair doesn't disappoint as she exposes the fraying nerves underlying both commerce and politics in these volatile times.

Nair is weak only in having a thesis to prove, most notably that when family, profession, and nationalism collide in parlous times, few will emerge unscathed but all will fiercely protect their own values. For instance, while Changez, the son of a Pakistani poet, achieves the American Dream as a business analyst for a prominent financial advisory company, aka corporate morticians (see Romney's Bain), that success wears on this young man with a fundamental belief in fairness. As a professor, he teaches "the importance of fundamentals." The abduction of a fellow academic seriously challenges his allegiances.

Nair, maybe too obviously, parallels the corporate turmoil with his love of SoHo artist Erica (Kate Hudson) and his love of his country. Add those competing life elements to aggressive American security (Changez's encounter with the TSA should chill any of us who travel and wonder what it would be like to be targeted), and you have a young man changing by the minute.

If for nothing else, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a story about fundamental beliefs, none more glaringly different than the West and Islam. The action, framed by a story of journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) interviewing Changez about the hostage situation, becomes multileveled and allegorical, ending in more of a thriller with a banal surprise than a thoughtful treatise on the complicated nature of modern foreign affairs.

As we did for Argo, forget the hokey ending and enjoy the clash of cultures. It's worth the trip.

No easy answers

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 26 March 2014]

Riz Ahmed has the most difficult role in this movie and he shoulders it more than bravely. His performance alone is worth for you to watch this very difficult movie. Obviously because of the topic, this won't be just a fun little movie to watch. Unlike his starring role in Four Lions, this is a serious attempt in showing and getting into the mind of someone affected by what happened after 9/11.

Nair is a seasoned director and she knows the traps one can encounter when making a movie that stays ambiguous until the end. There is only two options, so saying you knew it all along makes no sense and is not what you should be focusing with this movie. Empathy but also understanding is something this movie tries to spread. If it wholly succeeds is up to the viewer, who has to stomach some cringe worthy decisions made by the characters in the movie. But that is life for you sometimes ... sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet

It is a Good enough movie

[xboxxx9 · 7/10 · 6 July 2013]

the movie is rather boring but there are a few moments that brighten up the movie. it goes through a regular idea of a Pakistani dreaming of becoming a hot shot in America. You enjoy moments such as the ending the wording to honor and believe of change. If you are a Pakistani like me you will definitely enjoy the Abusive language. the movie disappoints when you see how Pakistani are described in the movie when let loose in America. For a Pakistani movie it consists of multiple Indian characters. Pakistan is shown well. The coolness of the Americans is Annoying. It is rather a slow movie like before said boring. so according to me it is hardly a 7 out 10.

A movie made from a different viewpoint

[pvtbrooks · 10/10 · 28 March 2013]

This movie challenged my views of American policy. I thought that it was definitely written with an Indian audience as the demographic it would do best in. We had an opportunity to listen to the Director (Mira Nair) speak about this and her other movies. She told us "This movie is intended to start a conversation", and that it does. If you are a Hollywood / blockbuster fan you probably will not enjoy this as much. If you are open- minded, watch film for more than just entertainment, and like Bollywood / Indian film, this is for you. I think that just as 20 years ago film depicting disability, or sexuality was far less popular such is true about a film that illustrates a point of view that's not that of a gun toting American.

Getting down to fundamentals

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 2 December 2015]

Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson, and Kiefer Sutherland star in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," based on the novel of the same name and directed by Mira Nair.

In 2011, an American professor in Pakistan is kidnapped. When the U. S. embassy receives a ransom note, it's in the form of a video, demanding the release of detainees and money.

An American journalist (Schreiber) who is a CIA informant obtains an interview with a suspect in the kidnapping, one Changez Khan (Ahmed), a professor at the same university. Changez asks to tell his story from the beginning.

He comes from a good family, his father a known poet, but money is scarce in his family. Changez wins a scholarship to Princeton and afterward is hired by a valuation firm on Wall Street.

Changez soon proves how gifted he is at the job, and his boss (Sutherland) puts him on the fast track for promotion.

Meanwhile, Changez meets a photographer, Erica (Hudson) and the two become involved, though she is not yet over the death of her fiancé. They break up after her art show, where he feels betrayed, as she used elements of their relationship.

After the World Trade Center falls, things change. Ahmed is strip- searched at the airport and interrogated. He is arrested upon leaving his office one day. He grows a beard, saying it reminds him of where he comes from, and it's no doubt an act of defiance.

After refusing to close a publishing house in Istanbul, Changez loses his job and returns to Pakistan. The question is, did he take up arms? After loving America, does he now hate it?

One reason Mira Nair made this film was to show another side of Pakistan, that of a vibrant country filled with youth and educated people, not simply a country filled with poverty and violence.

It's a thought-provoking film about the effect of terrorism on the innocent, not only in our country but in others as well. Ahmed, who wanted the American dream, becomes a victim of racial profiling, of suspicion, of fear.

The point that Ahmed makes is that every person is made up of many qualities, no one is just a criminal, a professor, a terrorist, and there are no simple answers.

The movie feels long, it's talky, but the acting is superb and draws you right into the film. When Ahmed goes back to Pakistan for his sister's wedding, he goes into a mosque. Without him speaking, you know he's thinking, maybe back here is where I belong.

It's one thing to be a terrorist, to be rooted out and arrested, but to leave a country because you don't feel you belong there any longer and no one wants you there is sad. Alas, it's been going on for centuries with no end in sight.

A film that's less about reluctance and more about turmoil...

[sanddragon939 · 9/10 · 20 May 2013]

Off late, it seems that there's a new genre of films, both in India and in the West. As varied as they may be in their narratives, they share certain broad elements-a Muslim immigrant to the West facing the hostility and suspicion of a post-9/11 world and gradually becoming disillusioned with the once sought-after Western way of life and seeking solace in his/her own roots. 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' is the latest addition to that particular genre and yet, unlike many of the others, it doesn't have a lot to do with terrorism. Sure, terrorism and its consequences do drive the plot to a significant extent; but above all, this is a very human story about identity, self-doubt, and internal conflict.

The protagonist Changez Khan is a man living in two worlds, and throughout the story, he is never really able to pick a side, despite his assertion that his side has picked for him. In that regard, he is perhaps the most realistic reflection of a modern Muslim youth placed in a similar situation. Without spoiling anything much, I will say that this isn't your sundry story about young people feeling victimized and turning to radicalism-this is something far more complex...something you need to see the whole movie to truly appreciate.

Riz Ahmed does a great job portraying the multi-faceted and conflicted protagonist Changez, and Liev Schreiber is brilliant as Bobby Lincoln, the enigmatic American whose conversation with Changez forms the backbone of the narrative. Less impressive is Kate Hudson as Changez's American lover Erika.

Excellent but a few technical blunders

[muzammil786 · 7/10 · 30 November 2013]

A good depiction and upholding of the opposition to two very extremes: religion and capitalism, which use people for own benefits.

The only disappointment is the ignorance of "fundamentals" of Lahore, which was strongly felt through out the film whenever it took us there. The so-called "Lahore University" and the surroundings nowhere matched the reality. The dialogue delivery in Urdu was also sub-standard. I wish they could hire a proper consultant to give them a realistic touch of the place, for which the film was all about.

Besides a few technical blunders; the film, crew, acting and music overall is indeed worthy of appreciation.

Strident, One-Dimensional Tale

[johngriffin0928 · 4/10 · 9 April 2014]

Mira Nair's gift for storytelling is not often evident in this strident, one-dimensional film that manages to turn the complex emotions that surround 9/11 into a dull, clichéd story of how racism in America could cause more global horror. Some good acting can't rescue a fairly trite script that sounds like highlights of the much better novel that it was based on.

Nair's Monsoon Wedding was about real people, and it remains one of the greatest films of the past 30 years. Even her Vanity Fair was more emotionally connected than this.

Save yourself the 2:10 running length and pick up the book.

why cinema is fabulous

[beattyg · 10/10 · 4 June 2013]

As soon as I saw the early credits running right to left I was grabbed by the intelligent Mira Nair, then the rousing singers, sumptuous visuals, disparate actors woven together in this complex, compelling story... wow. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is why I love cinema. This movies imperfections are perfection.

I read Mohsin Hamids exquisite book prior to viewing this fine movie and I almost side- stepped this movie because I didn't feel Hamids books subtle yet intense conversation would be translated onto the big screen. How wrong I was - thank you Mira Nair and all those involved.

I walked out of this movie and clicked my heels - the sun was shining and the world was travelling just fine in far more places than most realise.

Rejects personal beliefs as an anathema

[prathikg2002 · 7/10 · 24 August 2013]

A well constructed novel delivering thoughtful and impressive light on immigrant identity, shows how looks can be deceiving. Fluid action, lucid truth makes "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" throw light after what happened to people after 9/11, it rejects personal beliefs as an anathema and sheds light on true patriotism! A movie delivering some real piece of charisma and holding to its mind boggling revelation. An in-cognitive silent chapter in history. A must watch if you want to see the truth and how one single man was affected by the happenings of a group entirely different from one another! Shows how inexhaustible and ultimate religion and politics can become.

To be here and there

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 7 March 2016]

The Reluctant Fundamentalist directed by Mira Nair wants to examine what it is to be liked to be caught up in a cross fire of differing cultures and religion which makes you question your own identity.

In the background of the kidnapping of an American diplomat, a reporter, Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) interviews a radical professor in Lahore called Changez (Riz Ahmed) who might be involved with the terrorist groups involved in the kidnapping and who is on the radar of the security services. Lincoln hopes that Changez will lead him to the kidnappers.

Changez sits for an interview with Lincoln and figures out quickly that Lincoln is involved with the CIA. Changez protests his innocence and explains his life story as a Pakistani immigrant in America, who graduated from a top university and got a plum job in finance.

Life was going well for Changez, he has a white American girlfriend, popular with work colleagues but things change after 9/11. Changez suffers from constant humiliation such as being strip searched at the airport, wrongful arrests, racial abuse. He finds other ethnic groups fearful in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

As time goes on Changez questions his identity, his relationship with his girlfriend suffers. During a trip to Istanbul for a hostile takeover, he meets a man who translated his father's poetry fro Urdu to Turkish and has a spiritual awakening that causes him to leave his job and travel to Pakistan to work as a professor. His teaching enlightens his students but also brought him into contact with more shady terrorist sympathisers.

The film contained a lot of location shooting. The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, A fort in India and some location shooting in Pakistan as well as the USA.

The central premise was intriguing but never reaches its full potential. Changez is a man who could had easily switched allegiance from his love of all things American to a Pakistani society who needs to wean off itself from imperialist nations.

The resolution was rather ham fisted, tagged on to give the film some urgency and make it more thrilling. It did show elements of thoughtfulness but some of it just felt clumsy.

Good performances from Ahmed, Schreiber and Kiefer Sutherland.