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Brick Lane

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"Brick Lane" is based on Monica Ali's controversial novel of the same title, and tells the story of a Bangladeshi Muslim woman, Nazneen [Tannishta Chatterjee] who was married off at 17 by her father to a much older man living in London. Nazneen leaves behind her beloved sister, and there is also the haunting specter of her mother's suicide when she was a young girl. Nazneen's sister keeps up an active correspondence with her, indicating a life of adventure and excitement, in stark contrast to Nazneen's own repressed life - one of monotony and drudgery, of a loveless union with a self-absorbed man, and of caring for her two daughters. Nazneen's way of coping with her humdrum life is to quote her deceased mother: "Life is to be endured."

Things change when a new neighbor moves in next door - an independent Bangladeshi woman who takes in sewing to make ends meet and Nazneen soon finds herself doing the same [her loser of a husband quits his job and takes his time finding another one, deeming most jobs as beneath him]. It is this new-found 'independence' that puts Nazneen in the path of Karim [Christopher Simpson] a fiery-tempered, handsome young man who brings to life feelings Nazneen has long suppressed. The pair are mutually attracted and soon find themselves meeting in secret, stealing kisses, and finally indulging in an affair. But Karim doesn't merely spark lust in Nazneen, he is also the catalyst that arouses her awareness of racial and religious identity and when 9/11 occurs, Nazneen finds herself being swept up in a series of events that challenge her traditional beliefs and give her the strength to make the right choices - for herself and her children.

The lead actress did an amazing job as the lonely and unfulfilled Nazneen. Through her credible portrayal of a repressed woman stuck in a traditional, loveless marriage, we get a clear picture of the life led by some immigrant women. However, there is also something altogether predictable in the plot and the ending, when it comes, hardly holds many surprises.

On the whole, I'd recommend this movie to those seeking out human dramas, especially those that focus on women's emancipation and self-discovery.

"Brick Lane," an English film released in 2007, is based on the popular, award-winning novel of the same name by Monica Ali, Brick Lane: A Novel. It deals with the lives of Bangladeshis in modern-day London's gritty East End: and was filmed in Shoreditch, London. It was directed by Sarah Gavron, and stars some very good, presumably Indian actors, with whom, I expect, most of us are not familiar.

We meet Nazneem as a child, in her beautiful Bangladeshi homeland: an arranged marriage forces her to leave home, and her beloved sister, and sends her to 1980's London. Tanishtha Chatterjee does very strong work as Nazneem Ahmed, married to Chanu Ahmed, played by Satish Kaushik: he too does very strong work. We initially assume Chanu is a chubby fool. He's inordinately proud of his education, when he doesn't seem to have much, and is a minor tyrant around the home. To which poor homesick, lonely Nazneem, in constant correspondence with her sister, is largely confined, caring for her husband and two daughters. But after 15-some odd years of this, more money is needed to finance a trip home: Nazneem gets an old sewing machine to do piecework. Karim, (Christopher Simpson), the handsome, sexy young man who brings the work to her, eventually gets her out into the world. And we do get an eyeful of Shoreditch, a colorful, crowded, hard-edged neighborhood that has served for centuries as home to the poor, and/or recent immigrants. Then along comes our 9/11, to arouse anti-Moslem feelings in England, as in the States, and the world changes around them. Most of us will find we are forced to amend our opinions of Chanu by this changed world.

Photography, both in the U.K. and the Indian subcontinent, is excellent. The sentimentality of the picture, particularly in its sudden happy ending, may be a problem for some viewers. A much bigger problem to me, who saw the film in its theatrical release, was the lack of subtitles. Nazneem's character narrates, in addition to having the lion's share of dialogue. She has a strong Indian subcontinent accent, and speaks softly, too: I found it very very difficult to understand her. None of the other characters were much better. And, of course, the odd English character we met had the Cockney accent. I'm afraid, what with one thing and another, I really can recommend this movie only to homesick natives of the Indian subcontinent---or of the East End, London's scattered Cockneys, who, hopefully, will have some experience with that accent. Although I now understand the DVD offers closed captions; this should make watching this movie a much less frustrating experience for anyone interested in this slice of immigrant life in London.

A moving film that will touch your heart.

"BRICK LANE" is a film based on the best selling novel by Monica Ali about arrange marriages, moving away from one's country and living a new life in another country and for many, living a life based on survival and marriage where there might not be strong love but also a film about finding one's self.

The term "Brick Lane" is actually a long street in East end of London and where many Bangladesh community reside.

The story centers around a Bangladeshi woman named Nazneen. Nazneen and her sister are very close but due to a tragedy of her mother committing suicide, life has changed in her family and Nazneen, at a young age, is quickly arranged to get married with a man 25 years older than her.

Fast forward twenty years later in London and Nazneen now with two daughters and her husband (Satish Kaushik) live in an apartment in Brick Lane and her husband who is unemployed is always gone during the day and tries to find ways to make money for the family.

Nazneen appears to live her life with no soul. Her husband doesn't treat her with love or an equal, just a wife who does what he says and raises the family. But for Nazneen, the only thing that really keeps her going in life is her two daughters and the letters that she had received from her sister a long time ago.

Her sister appears to have a good life and didn't get in an arranged marriage and did her own thing. And for Nazneen, each time she writes to her, there is not much to write. She stays home, takes care of the kids and rarely ventures out on her own but only during the day. She has lived a sheltered life and a woman that has no zest in her life, her soul is quietly dying.

But things change for her when she meets her new neighbor who has a sewing machine. Nazneen figures she can raise some money for the family but when a young man named Karim comes to her apartment to have blue jeans mended, the two start to develop an attraction that leads to Nazneen having an affair, which literally changes both of them.

Nazneen seems to be happy, her soul renewed but how long can she keep her secret from her husband and when 9/11 changes the world, it also changes life in London, especially for the Muslims. Nazneen's life and the people close to her will never be the same again.

Suffice to say, as one would see this film as a positive step for women who come from cultures which they are not treated as equals or lack their independence, the film and also the novel is also very controversial among the Bangladesh people who even campaigned and protested the filming of "BRICK LANE" in their community because they felt that the film was demeaning towards the Bangladesh people.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

The DVD is presented in 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen and cinematography had an earthy feel with yellow, brown and redish lights utilized at times. Very beautiful cinematography. The majority of the footage is inside Nazneems apartment but near the final quarter of the film do we see more of London.

As for audio, the film is featured in English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) and the majority of the film is dialogue. But when the theme song that plays in the beginning and the end come on, it really comes out in the speakers. A very beautiful theme song!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD has a few special features:

* Commentary with Director Sarah Gavron and Actress Tannishtha Chatterjee - The special feature was quite interesting to listen to. Sarah Gavron was very good in discussing the challenges of filmmaking and what they had to accomplish in their short time filming. She and Tannishtha discuss the protests as well and most of all, how winter scenes had to be filmed in 90 degree, hot and humid weather. Overall, really good commentary from both women and a really in-depth commentary for film students who want to learn from Gavron who actually graduated from film school, did a short film and was discovered which led to "BRICK LANE" being her first feature film. Also, Gavron worrying how Monica Ali would think about the film and also as a foreigner looking outside into the culture of the Bangladeshi and also how like Ang Lee was a foreigner but create exceptional films in another country, it was an inspiration for her for a film like this. Very good commentary and featured with English subtitles.
* Exploring Brick Lane - This segment features the behind-the-scenes making of. This includes interviews with the director, producers and cast.
* Interview with Sarah Gavron - Gavron talks about her past and also filming "BRICK LANE"
* Interview with Tannishtha Chatterjee and Christopher Simpson - Both talk about how they were cast, their chemistry of working together and more.
* Interview with Satish Kaushik - Satish talks about his role and how he was selected for the film.
* Scene Specific Commentaries - Commentaries on certain scenes from the film
* Deleted Scenes - A lower res feature of certain scenes in the film that were cut and actually agree with removal of that footage.

Overall, I enjoyed "BRICK LANE" but at the same time, I can understand why Bangladeshi people dislike the film. In modern times, many countries especially in America, are used to seeing women in power and when we here about marriage, we tend to hear about people falling in love and rarely are people accustomed to arranged marriages.

In the commentary, both Gavron and Chatterjee had opportunities to learn from women who are in similar situations as Nazneem and I would imagine that there would be some who just live their lives for the family like Nazneem. And in today's world, I can understand why people not familiar with arranged marriages from other cultures may disagree with it.

But in South Asia and also other parts of Asia, arranged marriages still happen. It's part of the culture. Even within my family, my grandparents had told me stories about having to go back to their home country and find a good wife there and I was not going to stand for an arranged marriage.

How I viewed "BRICK LANE" was almost something similar to my upbringing in the fact that there is traditional culture where rules apply and there are those who live in a country where those traditional and cultural rules are not necessarily all gone but it's not the same. Nazneem is a woman who knows Bangladeshi customs but at the same time, her soul is like a candle with its light slowly getting smaller. The only thing that keeps her going is the fact that she wants to be their for her children unlike her mother who gave them a chance at life but at the cost of her's.

But she's not happy with her husband, she's doesn't seem attracted to him at all. But for the sake of family, she does her best. And then of course, life changes for her when she meets Kalim. Kalim is a young man who is becoming a man and wants to marry Nazneem and both change each others lives.

How one's upbringing (especially in their culture) can lead them to see this movie as quite destructive or some may see it as moving and beautiful, the film and its novel will continue to have its critics and its supporters.

In the end, "BRICK LANE" is about a woman finding her way and becoming independent. A husband who wants the best for his family but unable to make things happen in London and wants to be back in Bangladesh and a young man, coming of age and because of the treatment towards Muslims after 9/11, leads him to activism.

All three performers, Chatterjee, Koushik and Simpson did an exceptional job for their roles on this film. Balanced with beautiful cinematography and an enchanting theme song, overall, I found "BRICK LANE" to be a quite moving. Definitely worth checking out!

As far as heroines go, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) of the 2008 film adaptation of Monica Ali's "Brick Lane" epitomizes an unfulfilled life of self-imposed servitude facilitated through a sense of duty ingrained in her through a dour mixture of her Bangladesh culture and her family's expectations. Like Emma Bovary, Nazneen lives vicariously through the written page, in this case, letters from her beautiful sister, Hasina, that recount a fascinating life of romance and adventure far removed from the drudgery of Brick Lane in the east of London.

Touted repeatedly as "a girl from the village" with a country girl's modesty and ethical sensibilities deeply rooted in Islam, Nazneen shows signs of life only through the flickering of her huge velvety eyes. The rest of her being--both physical and mental--is swathed in gauzy saris that fold over her diminutive frame like camouflage allowing her to float along the London streets without being seen. Indeed, even at home, Nazneen meshes into the background, a dutiful unchallenging wife and cautious mother. Even her grief for the loss of her firstborn child is muted with a resigned acceptance that the audience instinctively knows will become part of her cathartic undoing.

For Nazneen, life cannot be more depressing. Chanu (Satish Kaushik), her husband through a marriage arranged through her father, continually deludes himself with regard to his potential for the success historically earned by other generations of immigrants once employing residence on Brick Lane as a springboard towards assimilation. Ruling his roost of wife and two daughters with optimistic twin fists of preserving traditions and taking advantage of the opportunities of his new country, Chanu finds his dream trashed as he watches his daughters struggle with the usual second-generation complications of integration. Initially, both he and Nazneen desire only to return to the village; she yearns for the life of her sister while he fantasizes about his return as a rich man. In order to appropriate this change, Nazneen, at the prompting of a more London savvy neighbor, takes in sewing at home and unknowingly opens her doors of perception when Karim, the young deliverer of the clothing items on which she works, awakens thoughts of romance and redefinition of self-identity that rivals that which she imagines enjoyed by her sister.

The tone of this film is one of a woman's quiet endurance. Rife with nostalgic scenes from childhood--two young girls running in sultry green fields--and the blind-closed claustrophobic containment within the four walls of the Brick Lane apartment alleviated only by winsome lovemaking between Nazneen and Karim, the potential power of this film seems muted--the outcome disappointingly formulaic rather than approaching a crescendo of great epiphany for the audience or any of the major characters.

Dealing with the familiar story of immigrant assimilation, "Brick Lane" offers nothing new in terms of self-discovery. Nazneen struggles with her background and the path her life takes when Karim enters the scene, but none of these things are fully developed within the confines of the film's 102 minutes. If more had been done with the dynamic between Chanu and Nazneen, the entire story would have soared to heights buoyed with greater more satisfying complexity.

Bottom Line? "Brick Lane" relates another chapter in the saga of redefining an immigrant's identity. Tannishtha Chatterjee does a fine job of capturing an unhappy Muslim woman slowly adapting to a new country. Unfortunately, Satish Kaushik does not have as much positive material from which to work. Because of this and the fact that the script takes a wide-angled approach to presenting the incendiary Brick Lane world after the events of 9-11 rather than focus on the smaller storylines that reveal universal emotions and ponderings, the film drags and seems muddled rather than revelatory.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

I've seen this movie twice this past year, and both times came away with different perspectives on its message. To discuss those perspectives would probably spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it, so suffice it to say that the movie is one of love and self-discovery.

The story is set at a slow pace, but the patience of watching it will reward you and hopefully connect you with the dilemma of the main character Nazneen, played by Tannihtha Chatterjee. Nazneen is the centerpiece of the movie. She is a woman committed to family and marital duty, yet naively unaware of the realities of life outside her home as well as inside her heart. She is experiencing a revolution of self within and a revolution of culture from outside. The tension builds as sooner or later you know the inner and outer must clash.

Ms. Chatterjee's performance is so masterful that I almost wonder if she drew from personal experiences to play the role. Her eyes can express inner feelings of joy, sadness, caution and concern all within moments apart. It is through her strength and womanhood that you'll find the beauty of this movie.

4.5 stars

Brick Lane follows in a great tradition of British Film Making which includes My Beautiful Laundrette My Beautiful Laundrette, London Kills Me, Sammie and Rosie Get laid and Bhaji On the Beach.

It is a well woven tale, very well crafted, replete with meanings and open to much interpretation. Ostensibly the story of two sisters in Bangladesh, separated after their mother dies, with the elder being sent off to London in an arranged marriage, and the younger left at home in the village.

This is a story well known to British sociologists concerned with family and kinship particularly in East London. During the 1980s many Bangladeshis came to Britain seeking a new life, like the Indians and Pakistanis before them, but unlike their South Asian counterparts were predominantly rural dwellers before moving. Many found it hard to settle without a working knowledge of English and were settled in the many medium and high rise social housing built in the boom years of the 1950s and 60s. What is alluded to but not dwelt on in the context of the film is the difficult situation the newcomers found themselves in with a resurgent British Nationalist movement (National Front/British Nationalist Party) terrorising the immigrants with their bovver boy infantry.

The film begins with the departure of the older sister whom we learn was only 17 when she was married. It then contunues further ahead in time when she is a mother to two sisters who appear to be slightly younger but living in an urban environment and who appear to be rebelling against the strict(ish) traditional way of life enforced by their father.

As the story unfolds with the mother taking in sewing work for a small remittance we watch the development of her as a person in her own right against her religious and family upbringing until she is transformed into the single parent bringing up two children in the grim urban environment of Britain in the 1980's.

Others have commented about her growth as a person but I feel that this is too simplistic in it's analysis. She certainly has achieved a degree of independence as a wage earner and as someone who wishes to control her own destiny but at the same time, she has not achieved any significant gain in her own environment. In many ways she is even further cut off from her familial and cultural links and is at the mercy of outside social forces in Britain.

There are as many questions at the end of this film as there are at the beginning. One could argue that the central character has achieved a considerable increase in the control of her own life at the end of the film than at the beginning, and could even say that she has a greater role in the destiny of her own children that her mother had, but this is not the whole story. There is a sense in which the older of her two daughters is seeking to move even further away from her family when we glimpse her going off with her peers.

All of which makes this film fascinating viewing and fuels considerable debate over it's meaning. This serves to make this an excellent film to be watched over and over again.

BRICK LANE is one of the more satisfying films about our remaining cultural identity crises. Based on the novel by Monica Ali and adapted for the screen by Laura Jones, this film flows through the lives of young Bangladeshi sisters - one married off to a successful older obese fellow countryman living in London and the other remaining in the family village. The story is at once sensitively private in its communication between the separated sisters whose sole communication is by letters, each longing for the other sister's advantages, and also woven into a public examination of how 'immigrants' adapt in a foreign country, absorbing all the idiosyncrasies of that new land and the altered perception of the world outside as it changes in dramatic ways.

Nazeem (the radiantly beautiful Tannishtha Chatterjee) is married by arrangement to the fat successful Chanu (Satish Kaushik): the two take up residence on the Brick Lane known as London's Little Bangladesh. Nazeem is a quiet and dutiful wife (longing for her sister and her village home), bears Chanu a son (who dies a crib death) and two daughters who comfortably are absorbed into the country of England, the only home they know. The aging Chanu is intelligent but fails to hold jobs, partly because of this outspoken behavior and in part due to prejudice of his employers. Nazeem longs to return to Bangladesh, but when she is required to take in sewing to aid the falling family coffers, she meets the young and handsome Karim (Christopher Simpson). The two fall in love and Nazeem struggles with her duties and moral obligations as a wife and mother and her surfacing realization of her own identity. The Twin Tower tragedy of 9/11 occurs and the people of London turn against the Muslims: Karim is an activist and defends the rights of his fellow Bangladeshi brothers, hoping to encourage Nazeem to join him and remain in London. Nazeem struggles between passion and duty and ultimately finds her own path - becoming a complete woman individual of mature mind. And the results of her growth spell out the ending of the film.

The cast is large and very fine, and the photography by Robbie Ryan captures both the childhood remembered magic of Bangladesh and the raw realism of life in London. The musical score by Jocelyn Pook enhances the changing moods of this touching and significant movie. Director Sarah Gavron has found the perfect balance to tell this story of love, family obligations, and the changes of the world events. It is a film well worth seeing multiple times. Grady Harp, January 09

Brick Lane
dir Sarah Gavron, 2007

Sarah Gavron's film about a rural Bangladeshi woman in London alternates between moments of hard-nosed emotional and social clarity and gushy "Bridges of Madison County" romance. Fortunately, the former win out and make it worth while squirming through the latter.

In an introductory sequence set in Bangladesh, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee as an adult) is living an idyllic life, playing in the fields with her beloved sister and other children, though there are hints that the lot of a woman is not a happy one, her fate is to endure. Her mother dies (it's never clear where her father or other relatives are), and she is married off to an older Bangladeshi man in London, a great though frightening opportunity; the sister remains in Bangladesh. Throughout the film we are regaled with voice-overs, of the correspondence between the sisters and I think comment by Nazneen.

Fast forward nearly 20 years. Nazneen is acclimated to her life in London, though keeping to herself, living with her husband Chanu (multifacetedly played by Satish Kaushik) and two daughters (and the memory of her "beautiful boy" tragically dead at an early age) in a seedy block of flats. Chanu has become immensely fat, and is controlling as a matter of male birthright. He is also in a bad position, having lost one job and the expected new one not come through. Their long-planned visit home is put on hold as he desperately looks for work. Nazneen -- somehow magically coming out of her shell after all this time -- is befriended by a neighbor, and through her (and with the loan of an old sewing machine) takes on piecework sewing to help make ends meet. Chanu is deeply insulted and angry, but eventually finds a job as a driver. The older daughter, fifteen at a guess, is being an awful teen, alternately hateful and apologetic (the younger daughter is still well behaved). Nazneen's sister gets married ... or something ... back home, though to a man who is cause for worry.

[SPOILER ALERT -- Though I won't give away the ending completely, if you haven't read the book and want to approach the film without too much foreknowledge, best quit here or skip to the last paragraphs.]

The materials for Nazneen to sew are brought by a handsome young man, Karim [Christopher Simpson]. Nazneen, of course, is still trim and beautiful in her mid-30's, and Karim flirts with her until the inevitable happens -- bells ring,birds twitter, vaseline smears the lens, Nazneen runs through her childhood fields of dreams, and has a goofy grin ... well, you get the picture. It rather bludgeons you in the face, but still her transformative joy is obvious. Karim gets her to come to a local Muslim society.

And then 9/11 happens. Though we never really see any violence, the Muslim community is afraid and suffers even more prejudice. Karim becomes more clearly militant and starts wearing ethnic dress, the group renames itself Muslim Tigers (or some such), and in a key scene Chanu comes to a meeting also, and gives a thoughtful speech emphasizing the variety of Muslims in London -- he is not one with the jihadists, the Muslims from different countries have different agendas.

Things in general go bad -- for the romance, the family, and the situation of the Muslim community -- and Chanu plans for them to move permanently back to Bangladesh. The older daughter, at least, desperately wants to stay in the only home she has ever known, and pleads with her mother to make known her desire to stay (Nazneen has never stood up for herself to Chanu, only endured as a Bangladeshi woman should). Nazneen hears that her sister is no longer with her husband, and Chanu forces her to read between the lines of her cherished letters to see that she has been living by the kindness of, if not strangers at least not family.

How will, or should, things resolve? Will Nazneen divorce Chanu and marry Karim, as he pleads with her to do? Or go back to her beloved homeland and sister? Or something else?

[SPOILERS OFF]

The acting is generally quite good, both the principal characters and smaller parts. But Satish Kaushik as Chanu is the standout. At times the fool, with his eternal optimistic schemes after depressing failure, with his fondness for European culture and collection of European philosophy and literature, he is at the same time self-aware, articulate and philosophical. In a heart-string-tugging scene with the older daughter he asks "Do you think I want to be this way?"

On the plus side, the characters deal with real life, and hard decisions, in realistic ways. There are no easy answers to their predicaments -- emotional, cultural, financial, political -- but they muddle their way through and in the end pick themselves up and start anew, with considerable wisdom. In spite of the gushy, stereotypical, interludes, the emotional interactions are really quite nicely realized and not at all mushy. The scenes in which Nazneen resolves things with Karim and Chanu are both tender and hard at the same time.

But I really have to downgrade this film from 5* to 4* for its overly sentimental layer of visual and audial fluff. The lush music and lusher flashback and introspection overlays may appeal to Bollywood sensibilities, but they set this reviewer's teeth on edge. Shortening and drastically toning down these segments would make this a much better film, and even leave a little time for clarifying the plotline.

Brave movie, brave acting, great cinematography. A magic movie. Satish Kaushik, playing the husband Chanu, takes your breath away. Is Chanu a sad-sack failure or a courageous and loyal man doing the right thing? For a star of 75 films over nearly 30 years to be able to give us this downtrodden, near-incompetent, almost pathetic character is a brilliant and brave achievement.

This movie is marvelous!! I read this book after it was first published and loved it. T he movie was so well done and the acting was fabuulous!!