Starring Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson
Bobby Lincoln (Schreiber), an American living in Pakistan,
is sent to interview Changez Khan (Ahmed) a Pakistani lecturer and former
US-based corporate executive in relation to a recent kidnapping. Associated
with achieving the ‘American Dream’ and his fondness for his American lifestyle
coupled with his flair for inflammatory rhetoric and the prejudice he suffered
in the States, is Changez truly the dangerous anti-American that they suspect?
Based on the book by Moshin Hamid, The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a complex narrative that dances with a complex subject
matter. Carrying a lot of this is Riz Ahmed as Changez Khan, who easily gives
the film’s best performance. Having come to acting acclaim with 2010’s
fundamentalist-related black comedy, Four Lions, Ahmed captures a character in
Reluctant Fundamentalist that whilst appearing to be a mass of contradictions
is never once unbelievable nor fully-rounded; a difficult feat for an actor or
for a screenwriter, a testament to the writing. This is a film that doesn’t
take sides. It is not pro-Bush administration, nor is it pro-fundamentalism and
whilst the film’s lengthy character study does cause the film’s story to
ultimately unravel a little in the final stretch and that the themes and ideas
are hardly new, this is an interesting film that will provoke emotions and,
hopefully, discussion.
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