Comedies featuring Asians in Britain have met with much recent success . BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM was an international hit while EAST IS EAST was a big hit at the British box office . MY SON THE FANATIC came out a couple of years earlier than the aforementioned comedies and fails to hit the funny bone
An Asian taxi driver forms a platonic bond with a prostitute while his son becomes more and more of a Muslim fanatic . The problem with this is that the story tries to say too much on the dangers of racism , religious fundamentalism , assimilation and that we all have the same basic needs despite our differences . I also got the impression that the movie didn't want to offend sensibilties too much , but there's a scene featuring a nasty and racist comic which is somewhat sickening . Needless to say the comic is white ( A Bernard Manning clone ? ) and his target is Asian . As has been mentioned MY SON THE FANATIC has taken on special signicance post 9/11 but this makes it an even more uneasy watch
I will praise the cast which includes Om Puri as the Asian taxi driver who's son is becoming more and more fanatical and mixing with the wrong crowd . Puri gives a sad and haunting performance . Rachael Griffiths who I'm sure is going to become a big name soon gives a performance as a prostitute while Stellan Skarsgaard proves as always that he's the most convincing actor to have come out Europe for many years .
An Asian taxi driver forms a platonic bond with a prostitute while his son becomes more and more of a Muslim fanatic . The problem with this is that the story tries to say too much on the dangers of racism , religious fundamentalism , assimilation and that we all have the same basic needs despite our differences . I also got the impression that the movie didn't want to offend sensibilties too much , but there's a scene featuring a nasty and racist comic which is somewhat sickening . Needless to say the comic is white ( A Bernard Manning clone ? ) and his target is Asian . As has been mentioned MY SON THE FANATIC has taken on special signicance post 9/11 but this makes it an even more uneasy watch
I will praise the cast which includes Om Puri as the Asian taxi driver who's son is becoming more and more fanatical and mixing with the wrong crowd . Puri gives a sad and haunting performance . Rachael Griffiths who I'm sure is going to become a big name soon gives a performance as a prostitute while Stellan Skarsgaard proves as always that he's the most convincing actor to have come out Europe for many years .