West is West

This is the hotly anticipated follow up to the smash hit of 2000 East is East and it’s a great movie.

The producer excellently revisits her original cast along with some exceptional new members in both Salford and Pakistan. This is a comedy drama which is emotive and heartfelt and will leave you with the need to buy the DVD for when your feeling the blues.

George (Om Puri) with his wife Ella (Linda Bassett) are still coping with the cultural discrimination of being a mixed race couple whilst living in Salford in the mid seventies. Whilst owning their chip shop they are also bringing up their children, one of which we saw being forced in to an arranged marridge in East is East Tarique Kahn (Jimmy Mistry) and who’s brother is now in Pakistan and trying to get a wife of is own arranged or otherwise.

Sajid (Aqib Khan) is the youngest of the tribe (no longer wearing the South Park style parker as seen worn my Kenny) and is unfortunately becoming rebellious as a result of bullying and not being able to cope with the racial differences that were so highlighted and frowned upon in the North of England at the time. As a result of a scrape with the law and after a number of failed shouting matches with his father and mother he is packed off to Pakistan with his father to get him emotionally sorted out by taking him back to his families historical roots.

The first steps of the plane and the journey to the family home highlight the equally large differences between the Khans and the beggers in the streets set to a back drop of wonderfully beautiful hills and grass lands.
However the film is not about that nor is it a narrative of how Pakistan has become what it is today with a powerful military, fighting both an internal political war and an external battle in and outside its country against terrorism. If your looking for that you will be sorely disappointed.

This is an emotional view about relationships. There are many disfunctional relationships in this family to chose from and I challange anyone not to be personally moved by one or all of them. I myself found the relationship dynamic of Sajid and his father very interesting as it highlighted so many of the problems many men have with their own father son relationships. After watching the movie and the feel good ending I certainly wanted to give my dad a call.

So Sajid is stuck in Pakistan and as the film progresses we see him change in his outlook on life and his family and he becomes the kind of guy most of us men might like to be. Not only does he try to find, with some success, a wife for his brother Maneer (a Nana Mascuri lookalike what are the odd of that0 but he is also spiritually enlightened by Georges old school friend who incidently has a better English Accent than me and who is surely going to release a book on Zen like teachings.

We also see the headlong collision of George’s old life with that of his western life as his two wives meet for the first time. I have to say I did not remember that George had been married before he had come to England and I was rather shocked at his total disregard and blissful lack of awareness of the consequences of his actions. However this lack of awareness and George’s slow realization are essential to the story and the emotional sea that the film creates in the watcher.

I challange anyone to not to have shed a tear by the end of the movie with George showing remorse and shame and finally receiving forgiveness whilst his sons reap the success of, for one getting the girl and the other gaining self belief and confidence through contentment in ones own skin.

Summary a great movie emotionally uplifting with a feel good end, a must to watch on the big screen and own on the small screen.
Look out for numerous smacks to the back of Sajids head (I am amazed he doesn’t have permanent concussion), copious use of Fu** OFF and Bloody Basta**, fantastic one liners and surprises including a very touching scene between Georges Wife number 1 and wife number 2 who shows up in a taxi unexpectedly shocking most of the cast and half of the cinema audience.

Rating 8/10 a must see, but see this excellent English offering before the next big budget American generic offering pushes it out of the cinema. This is a movie in its own right and can stand on its own merits so check it out for yourself.


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