Product Details

• Actors: Om Puri, Rachel Griffiths, Akbar Kurtha, Stellan Skarsgård, Gopi Desai
• Directors: Udayan Prasad
• Writers: Hanif Kureishi
• Producers: Anita Overland, Chris Curling, George Faber
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: January 25, 2000
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305674086
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,353 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Most generation gaps focus on conservative parents and radical kids, but My Son the Fanatic depicts the opposite: taxi driver Parvez (Om Puri) can't understand why his son has turned to Muslim fundamentalism, calling the Western world of their corner of London corrupt and driven by sex. Meanwhile, Parvez finds himself working for a hedonistic German businessman (Stellan Skarsgård from Breaking the Waves and Good Will Hunting) who has more or less hired a prostitute named Bettina (Rachel Griffiths from Hilary and Jackie and Children of the Revolution), with whom Parvez has become friends. As Parvez's wife also turns towards fundamental ways, and a Muslim holy man comes to live in their house, Parvez turns more and more to Bettina for solace. Their friendship turns more intimate, bringing the family conflict to a head. This could be little more than a midlife crisis fantasy, but My Son the Fanatic thickens its story with cultural details and well-developed characters. The performances are rich and affecting; Om Puri is charming and sympathetic, and makes Parvez's moral conflicts genuine and understandable. Though Bettina, as a hooker with a heart of gold, is a bit of a stereotype, Griffiths's integrity as an actress makes the character compelling. An affecting film that doesn't provide easy answers to the difficult questions it explores. Written by Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

The great Indian actor Om Puri, who has a face like a serried mountain range, gives a memorable performance as Parvez, a quiet Pakistani taxi-driver living in a dreary northern-England industrial town. For years, the assimilated Parvez has worked to provide for his family, only to have his son suddenly reject Western values and then compound the insult by inviting a group of hungry fundamentalist hangers-on into the house. The writer, Hanif Kureishi, and the director, Udayan Prasad, work the culture clash for comedy and for anguish, too-Parvez, waking up emotionally, falls in love with one of the prostitutes (Rachel Griffiths) he's been driving around, and the fundamentalists, including Parvez's son, go berserk. With Stellan SkarsgÅrd as a brutal German businessman. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRUE MARVEL WITH COMPLEX BUT REAL CHARACTERS, June 8, 2003

By 

Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Son the Fanatic (DVD)

Made in 1997 (ps: pre-911) it is remarkable how a movie so simple in its narrative, and so in the shadow of critical cinema, could depict such smack-dab nuances of eastern immigrants at odds with a western setting or how the cultural assimilation of trans-national immigrants doesn't always look like a rainbow colored day at the beach.

But despite that seemingly ho-hum central tack, there are many conflicts studied very poignantly -- modern versus mediaeval, father versus son, fidelity versus emotional satisfaction, ethnic conservatism (ok, fanaticism) versus open minded cosmopolitanism, Good House Husband versus Bad Man Who Befriends Prostitutes, Decent Living Taxi Driver versus Someone Who Became Filthy Rich...and each is sublte yet hard-hitting in its simplicity.

Without giving away too much about the plot, there is no ordinary character in the movie, certainly no ordinary Muslim. The father (Parvez, played wonderfully by Om Puri) is a cabbie who flirts about in a relationship with a streetside floozy whom he finds more uplifting (no pun intended) than his standpat wife back home who disapproves of his free-wheeling ways and even finds his interests in jazz "too trumpety". The other Muslim, the son, is at loggerheads with his peers in throes of non-acceptance and instead gets inveigled into Islamic fundamentalism as an escape. This contrast is very, very credible, real and amusing.

Particularly noteworthy are Udayan's idiosynchratic implications about what constitutes "right" or "wrong" character. Parvez's prostitute girlfriend has a loving heart, a sharp mind and a vivacious presence despite her ostracization from the Good People Club. The son and his other right-wing Islamic acolyte buddies come off as annoyingly childish in a thoughtless "promiscuity" of their own.

For instance, they invite a Pakistani Maulvi to sermonize/"guide", and a hilarious TRUE moment pops up when the Maulvi requests the non-approving father for some help with his immigration into England.

Another VERY, VERY quiet 5 second scene that leaves an indelible impact is the depiction of male chauvinism dominating orthodox Islam where Parvez's wife is huddled in the kitchen for dinner, behind a closed door, and refuses to come out to dine with the men of the house in fear of doing something "inappropriate" in the presence of the supposed Maulvi.

The movie has many light-hearted moments and the cinematography is unexpectedly stunning. All this emotional, moral tussle between father, son, wife, romantic interest etc leads to a denouement that is hardly a resolution of sorts but is deeply moving. Everyone makes a choice (and I found the choice of Parvez's wife particularly startling) in favor of freedom from personal and social shackles. Made me think for days and recommend this movie to everyone I care about.

This is probably not your average East Meets West type ethnic take and certainly not a look into typical Muslim life as it makes no pretense of being. Yet, as a movie that tackles very touching, very identifiable themes of how simple convictions about life and love can sway people into/away from relationships, it comes HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Can cultures intermix?, April 16, 2002

By 

Mikael Kuoppala (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Son the Fanatic (DVD)

Islamic fundamentalism and western hedonism collide in Hanif Kureishi's film "My Son the Fanatic", wich takes place in the small English town of Bradford.

The film was a huge hit in the 1997 Cannes film festival. It's intriquing way of combining comedy and drama earned it the Official Selection.

"My Son the Fanatic" gives us a peak to the life of Parvez, an Indian-Brittish taxi-driver, who doesn't care much about his roots, but is very fond of the western way of life. He befriends with the lower class of his town, eventually falling in love with a prostitute.

His son, Farid, represents a very different kind of thinking. He opposes the western way of living recklessly and seeks order. This leads to him leaving his English fiancé and joining a group of islamic fundamentalists.

The film that begins as a light comedy turns into serious drama as Parvez and Farid collide in their different ways of viewing life. Parvez's worry about his son and his long-dead marriage to his traditional Indian wife who doesn't approve of him mingling with criminals and prostitutes etc. offers us meaningfull moments, wich carry the deep characters through situations.

The film speaks for open mindedness, showing that a prostitute can be a good person and that a religious fanatic is always someones child. It offers much to think about while questioning common prejudiousness.

The adequate acting performances and Udayan Prasad's talented directing support Hanif Kureishi's insightfull script, wich unfortunately, or perhaps intentionally, is left a bit superficial.

"My Son the Fanatic" shows us that cultures can indeed intermix, and I recommend it strongly, especially at these times.

To quote Parvez: "Farid tells me cultures can't be combined. Jesus! You can't keep them apart!"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ultimately a Ghetto Love Story - and an excellent one....., January 22, 2002

By 

Winthrop Harrison "winharrison" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Son the Fanatic (DVD)

'My Son the Fanatic' is a tremendous film. The power & message of the film was surely powerful in 1998. But in my American winter of 2002, this film strikes deep. I've been to the Docklands, Hackney & Vauxhall - this film captures the base racism & grime of marginal London, never as an excuse, but as a living fact, and never a wall to what really matters. Love, Truth, or what seems to be. There isn't a Soul in this film who isn't searching for those same things. But sadly, they search for it with very different dreams.

The beauty of this film is its careful study of loneliness, and how a handful of isolated poor forgotten people dream in so very different ways. Some look for it in drugs, prostitution, simply surviving, or the Purity of Islamic Fundamentalism. And/Or just simply Living, and making it Work. In this movie, all moral choices collide, the participants are that close to making it work. None of them are wholly wrong.

I'll reveal no more, just to say that the camera-work is lively and excellent. The pacing is good, the message is so alive, this film deserves to be seen. It raises troubling questions about Terrorism and Fanaticism, and answers none. But that is the honest confused place we all find ourselves. It's 2002, it's up to your heart where you go from here... This film perectly captures one world. What's yours?