My Son the Fanatic
dir. Udayan Prasad
Miramax Pictures

Hanif Kureshi — screenwriter of My Son the Fanatic, as well as My Beautiful Launderette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, and the author of The Buddha of Suburbia — is the anti-Hemingway.

His works focus primarily on relationships and tensions between his male protagonists, particularly fathers and sons. Yet you won't find tales of hunting and fishing on Kureshi's pages. From Karim in The Buddha of Suburbia all the way through Parvez in My Son the Fanatic, Kureshi dissects his male characters, showing their sensitive sides without neutering them.

My Son the Fanatic follows (among a myriad of other things) the deteriorating relationship between Pakistani emigrant Parvez (Om Puri) — an English taxi driver with a habit of befriending his prostitute fares — and his wife, Minoo (Gopi Desai), and son, Farid (Akbar Kurtha). Parvez leads a double life at the film's outset, balancing his liberal, English lifestyle with the Old World life of Minoo and, later, Farid, who joins an Islamic fundamentalist sect early in the film. Despite the alienation he feels from his family, Parvez admits to Schitz, one of his fares (Stellan Skarsgård, of Good Will Hunting), that he holds them more dear than anything.

Things come to a head, however, when Farid brings an Islamic holy man into the family's home to stay for awhile. Here, Farid's Old World collides with the modern, integrated household Parvez has tried so hard to create.

This, however, is only a backdrop to the budding interracial romance between Parvez and Bettina (Rachel Griffiths, of Hilary and Jackie), one of the prostitutes with whom Parvez has formed a friendship. As the pair get deeper into their relationship — initially encouraged by Skarsgård's hedonistic German, Schitz — Parvez and Bettina cannot help but be affected by the fundamentalist sect's efforts to morally purge the town.

It's Farid's religious awakening that causes Parvez's life to unravel, leaving him stuck between so many rocks and so many hard places that it's difficult to keep track. Puri, an actor whose English-speaking roles have been mainly bit parts, is a true star in this film. Parvez is in the middle of every conflict imaginable — atheist vs. religious, Anglo vs. Indo, liberal vs. conservative, the confines of marriage vs. the liberation of an affair. Obviously, being torn between forces this numerous requires a lot of range on the part of an actor, and Puri delivers the goods. He goes from elated to disappointed in a heartbeat, from angry to apologetic in a nanosecond. His performance holds the film together.

Prasad, for whom My Son the Fanatic, is his second feature film, does a phenomenal job. For the majority of the film, he keeps the focus on his actors, letting us see the lines of worry on Puri's face, the emotional detachment on Schitz's, and the rebellious contempt for the new way of life on Farid's.

The intense focus on the actors makes the few moments where Prasad zooms out all the more poignant. When Bettina takes Parvez to a ruin in the countryside early in the film, we see a laughing, invigorated couple hike through Technicolor-green forests, perfectly clear streams and lush fields.

Once Parvez returns to the city, however, the focus is back on him. The first thing Minoo notices is the mud on his shoes. The muddy shoes aren't an issue during the time in country — Parvez and Bettina laugh when he accidentally gets his shoe wet — but in the dirty city he's brought down to earth. The device lets Prasad show the stark contrast between the gritty realism of the city and the promise of an affair and lure of novelty held in the vivid countryside.

Prasad and Kureshi make this trip to the countryside an important theme throughout the film. Parvez makes a point of telling his wife about his trip as soon as he gets back (replacing Bettina with Schitz and making it a paid journey). He says to Minoo that he visited a ruin that reminded him of the places they went in Pakistan around the time of their marriage. Minoo asks Parvez to take her, but he remains silent. This exchange shows both that Bettina makes Parvez feel like he did when he first fell in love with his wife and that he is unwilling to put effort into saving his marriage — and when Parvez does finally offer to make the journey when his marriage is really falling apart, Minoo tells him it is too late.

Virtually every scene in this movie is packed with meaning and emotional tension, particularly the climax. Prasad may be a feature film newcomer, but he realizes Kureshi's complex, tension-laden script with the ease and know-how of a seasoned veteran, allowing us to see a story of two men that goes beyond bullfighting and cards.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)