the audience applauded

Really Surprised!

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist directed by Mira Nair wants to examine what it is to be liked to be caught up in a cross fire of differing cultures and religion which makes you question your own identity.In the background of the kidnapping of an American diplomat, a reporter, Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) interviews a radical professor in Lahore called Changez (Riz Ahmed) who might be involved with the terrorist groups involved in the kidnapping and who is on the radar of the security services. Lincoln hopes that Changez will lead him to the kidnappers.Changez sits for an interview with Lincoln and figures out quickly that Lincoln is involved with the CIA. Changez protests his innocence and explains his life story as a Pakistani immigrant in America, who graduated from a top university and got a plum job in finance.Life was going well for Changez, he has a white American girlfriend, popular with work colleagues but things change after 9/11. Changez suffers from constant humiliation such as being strip searched at the airport, wrongful arrests, racial abuse. He finds other ethnic groups fearful in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.As time goes on Changez questions his identity, his relationship with his girlfriend suffers. During a trip to Istanbul for a hostile takeover, he meets a man who translated his father's poetry fro Urdu to Turkish and has a spiritual awakening that causes him to leave his job and travel to Pakistan to work as a professor. His teaching enlightens his students but also brought him into contact with more shady terrorist sympathisers.The film contained a lot of location shooting. The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, A fort in India and some location shooting in Pakistan as well as the USA.The central premise was intriguing but never reaches its full potential. Changez is a man who could had easily switched allegiance from his love of all things American to a Pakistani society who needs to wean off itself from imperialist nations.The resolution was rather ham fisted, tagged on to give the film some urgency and make it more thrilling. It did show elements of thoughtfulness but some of it just felt clumsy.Good performances from Ahmed, Schreiber and Kiefer Sutherland.

A good depiction and upholding of the opposition to two very extremes: religion and capitalism, which use people for own benefits. The only disappointment is the ignorance of "fundamentals" of Lahore, which was strongly felt through out the film whenever it took us there. The so-called "Lahore University" and the surroundings nowhere matched the reality. The dialogue delivery in Urdu was also sub-standard. I wish they could hire a proper consultant to give them a realistic touch of the place, for which the film was all about. Besides a few technical blunders; the film, crew, acting and music overall is indeed worthy of appreciation.

'I need you to listen to the whole story. Do i have your words?...... Yes, you do.' A simple question, however most people never meant it whole-heartedly when they reply with yes, you do. This movie has lots of values highlighted throughout the whole story.A story about a Pakistani young man that growing up from a regular Muslim Pakistan family. As growing up, he has a different view of life than others as he saw the world as what has appointed to him by his family and everything he has seen. He believes he's special to himself and his family and at least he knew he could always be someone bigger he wanted to be. Born in Muslim family, he had experienced the culture of being a Muslim right after he could talk. That culture had become part of himself that he will always venture. letting himself to step little higher than anybody else from his family to chase his dream to be part of something bigger out there was never an easy decision for himself. it's like giving away your pillow away and start to sleep without it for the rest of your life. He believes by chasing his American dream will cost him more than what he can gain but he knew he can do it. He started working for huge consultant company and his hard-work paid off as he gets promoted to be an important decision maker for the company. Then the Sept11 tragedy happened where directly everything changed like a blink of and eye. He felt everyone see him as one of the terrorist. Misunderstanding of people towards his belief planting a anger inside him and until one point, standing up for something he knew he belong to make him quit his job and leave America. Going back to his country and start pouring all his ideas to his people making him felt lived and for some point, felt owned by his people. Living with the driven excitement, suddenly he's approached by a group of people that wanting him to join them in fighting against military by using his power to convince his people which is making him figured that everything applied to single fundamental. A fundamental that driven man to choose a step to change what your belief. A step that follow through with the changes that will change everything forever.This movie has quality that making me look into myself and think for a while over everything that i have experienced in life and how life has changed me. Salute to the creative 'fundamental' person that created this story. You don't know how much you've influence me...

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningA prominent American professor is kidnapped and held for ransom in Pakistan. With tensions on edge over this, journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) manages to gain an audience with suspected extremist preacher Changez (Riz Ahmed), who relays his story of how he left his family home in Lahore to travel to the States and use his skills as a financial analyst on Wall Street to great effect, until 9/11 struck and his appearance and background suddenly rendered him a terror suspect in everyone's eyes. Now, with time running out and violent clashes break out, Lincoln must get to the truth before time runs out.Controversial subjects are always a tough drug for those to swallow, especially it would seem, American audiences, which may be the reason TRF didn't get the exposure it could have got. Mira Nair has taken a sensitive topic and crafted a slow, lingering piece that takes it's time , even if at points it feels like it doesn't have something to say and the narrative flow gets lost in translation. It still offers an impressive character study and plenty of food for thought, with a credible, strong lead in Ahmed, as well as reliable support from the likes of Schreiber and Kiefer Sutherland.Nair's film never seems to carry any overt political leaning to it, or be attempting to shove any sort of ideology down our throats, even if it presents view points and concepts that might well put many viewers on edge. While displaying an admirable thoroughness, at times it feels as though Nair is trying to delve too deep, and show Changez's world crashing down in too hectic a fashion. While it's intended to feel every bit as uneasy as everything else he experiences, the scene where he finds his girlfriend Erica (Kate Hudson) has turned him in to an art exhibition has an unintentional hilarity to it, like he's just been on some prank TV show.A challenging, unnerving, mostly riveting experience, The Reluctant Fundamentalist accurately portrays it's lead character as true to the title, slightly messy, maybe a bit too ambitious, but still eye catching and absorbing experience. ***