{"id":2571,"date":"2013-05-23T14:42:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T14:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2013-05-23T14:42:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T14:42:32","slug":"the-reluctant-fundamentalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/drama\/the-reluctant-fundamentalist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reluctant Fundamentalist ****"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cLooks can be deceiving. I am a lover of America,\u201d Changez Khan, a young Pakistani professor suspected of being a terrorist, tells American journalist Bobby Lincoln in a heaving tea house in Lahore.
\nThat remark and subsequent interview reflects the mutual suspicions between the two men who symbolise the tensions between East and West in the wake of September 11.
\nBased on Moshin Hamid\u2019s acclaimed novel award winning director Mira Nair\u2019s new film explores the roots of both religious and economic fundamentalism.
\nDuring his interview Princeton educated Changez (Riz Ahmed) tells Bobby (Liev Schreiber) how he embraced the American dream becoming a brilliant business analyst with a glittering future in Wall Street due to the support of his boss and mentor Jim Cross (Keifer Sutherland).\u00a0 Also how he found the perfect girlfriend in the beautiful and sophisticated photographic artist Erica (Kate Hudson).
\nYet in the aftermath of the attacks on the Twin Towers Changez\u2019s life and mind-set is shattered as he is suddenly treated as an outsider and a pariah.\u00a0 Completely disillusioned he returns to Pakistan a changed man.
\nNo one are what they seem in this fascinating and gripping suspense filled drama which is told from Changez point of view.
\nIt is a race against time as Bobby tries to extricate from Changez the whereabouts of a kidnapped American academic whose life is under threat.
\nNair very skilfully builds up the tension by intercutting the interview with compelling flashbacks.
\nThis is a film which challenges the West\u2019s idea of a fundamentalist by putting a human face to him.
\nYou can\u2019t help but empathize with Changez as you watch the appalling treatment he endures at the hands of xenophobic and gunho Americans but also due to Ahmed\u2019s charismatic, intense and honest performance which is by far his best to date.
\nThe question is is he or isn\u2019t he a fundamentalist? The film very cannily leaves it up to you to decide.<\/p>\n

4\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Maria Jose<\/p>\n

Follow Maria on Twitter<\/a>
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