East Is East DVD > Reviews > East Is East Is Excellent

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Funny, thought - provoking, well - acted and scripted
Disadvantages:	Lots of swearing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

East Is East is one of my favourite films; one that I have seen countless times. As well as owning the DVD, I have watched it twice on TV and twice in school (once in Religious Studies and in Citizenship). It has been both criticised and commended in equal measure - some have described it as the best British film in years, others have said it's racist, anti-Islam and stereotypical. You'll hear my views on that later!

THE STORYLINE

Set in 1970's Salford, the Khan family make the Simpsons look perfectly well-adjusted. George Khan, a strict Pakistani Muslim who runs a chippy, rules over his household with an iron rod; feared by the rest of his family. He has seven children, and is married to the long-suffering Ella.

Despite having an English mother and being of British nationality, he insists that his wayward children are Pakistani, and is horrified of how immoral he has brought his children up to be. He takes his anger and frustration out on his kids, which in turn makes them distance themselves even more against Islam. He is confused - he wants his children to be happy, but he also wants to retain family honour. He is adamant that a more religious lifestyle will make his children more respectable and happy, and sets about enforcing these changes.

His children, though, have different ideas and respond to their father's controlling, abusive behaviour in different ways. They are even more annoyed at how their mother, although not agreeing with her husband's views, supports his choices and will not tolerate any criticism of him.

Sajid, the youngest son, retreats into his shell (or rather, his manky fur-lined parka), and is frequently bullied by his older siblings. He is shy and unassuming, but is at that age where he is fascinated by the human anatomy, which lands him in hot water with his brothers and is labelled a Peeping Tom.

Saleem is the most independent of the sons, and breezily glosses over the family problems. His dad is proud that his son is studying engineering at college but he is actually doing an art course. Tariq is the confident womaniser who is the only one who stands up to George. To his friends he is known as 'Tony', and often goes clubbing while his parents are asleep. He has a bunny boiler girlfriend, Stella, who's uncle is an anti-immigration politician living opposite the Khan's.

Abdul is the quiet son who tries to hold his family together, and runs around trying to minimise the damage caused by his siblings, who deliberately antagonise their father. Maneer is nicknamed Ghandi by his siblings, and is alienated from the rest of his family. He tries to appease his father but instead irritates him, and his brothers and sister feel he has taken their father's side.

The only daughter is Meena, who is a brash, confident bacon-lover, equally foul-mouthed as her brothers. That leaves six children - the other is Nazir, who George claims is dead. In fact, Nazir fled from his arranged marriage, and has been disowned from the family.

Although George is fiercely proud of his religion, even having a wife in Pakistan, his children do not agree. The only real Pakistani they know is their father, who they dislike, so that dislike has been transferred to the whole religion of Islam. They treat Islam and Pakistan with a sort of disdain and contempt, and do not consider themselves to be Pakistani. Two good examples of this are Tariq shouting, 'I'm not getting married to a f**king Paki!' and when driving into Bradford, Sajid says, 'Bloody hell, there's Pakis everywhere!'

After a conversation in a mosque, George has a brainwave - he decides the ideal solution to all his woes is to marry off his two oldest sons, Tariq and Abdul, and sets about arranging the marriages. The family are put under enormous strain and it looks like their misguided father's scheming and plotting will finally ruin the Khan family.

THE ACTING

I think the acting here is brilliant all round, and in particular, Om Puri as the volatile father. He is an excellent actor, and has appeared on British TV many times - he can count White Teeth, Second Generation and The Canterbury Tales in his CV. He pulls off the flawed, confused character of George perfectly, even eliciting some sympathy for the father who is torn between his family and his religion.

Linda Bassett also deserves a mention as George's wife. Her acting is excellent and I can't see anyone other than her doing the role justice. Her face is very familiar, and having a look at IMDB, she is fairly successful - she has appeared in The Hours, Calender Girls and the BBC comedy Dinnerladies.

I think George's children were all perfectly cast, and portray their roles well. With so many characters, you would expect the cast to be a little two dimensional but they are all well-rounded, understandable and likeable in their own way! I was a bit dubious about Chris Bisson's acting skills - I had only known him as Vikram Desai from Coronation Street, which is hardly a challenging character, but he plays the art student well.

Most of the cast are recognisable, even the minor characters. Raji James, who plays Abdul, is also known as Ash Ferreira, and Stella's racist uncle is played by Jim Branning - both from Eastenders. Archie Panjabi (Meena) was in Bend It Like Beckham, and even played Om Puri's (George) wife in White Teeth! Jimi Mistry is perhaps better known as Dr Fonseca, also in Eastenders, and as The Guru. Even Jimmi Harkishin, Dev in Corrie, makes an appearance!

MY THOUGHTS

East Is East could easily have been a depressing, gritty drama, bogged down with messages about culture clashes - but it isn't. It's a touching comedy drama that will make you think as much as it makes you laugh. Ultimately, it's quite an uplifting film that will put a smile on your face!

It is a finely-tuned mix of comedy and drama, which works really well together. As well as dealing with the thorny subject of cultural differences, it tackles domestic violence. In places it is quite difficult to watch and makes for uncomfortable viewing, but there are many funny moments which diffuse the tension and provide plenty of laughs.

The film has had plenty of critics. People have said it's racist, encourages the BNP, wrongly portrays Pakistani families in England, non-educational and inaccurate. I think some people just do not want to face up to this reality and decide straight off, without bothering to see it, that it's a crap film. Because it's funny, it must be taking the p*ss out of Islam, right? It's just stupid - the critics who savage the film are not getting the point of the film at all.

I don't see how anyone can claim that the character of George Khan is basically racist propaganda, and vilifies Pakistanis. He is ONE individual person. Let's take Trevor Morgan from Eastenders. Does he portray all men of Britain as psychotic wife-beaters? No, I didn't think so. I can relate to the characters of the children because I was born in England, but my dad is a very strict Chinese man - am I feeling insulted and violated by this film? I have a friend who is in a similar position to Tariq and Abdul at the moment, and is getting married after her GCSE's, but is she offended? She counts East Is East as her favourite film!

There are plenty of hilarious moments. Two of my favourite scenes is where Sajid is chased around the house after being caught spying on his brother using the toilet, armed with a diagram, and when Stella's friend is attacked by a horny Dalmation. Some of the humour is a bit crude but trust me, you will definitely laugh.

Overall, it's a brilliant film. Thought-provoking, well-acted, funny and very realistic; it deserved all the praise it received. A lot of the criticism comes from unrealistic expectations and political correctness - I enjoyed every minute of it and I'm sure many, many other people did too.

CONCLUSION

I'd definitely recommend it. It can be a bit bleak and disturbing at times (particularly the scene in the chip shop with Abdul, Ella and a very angry George), but nonetheless, it's an excellent, witty film that I enjoy every time I see it. If you liked Bend It Like Beckham or Billy Elliot, you'll probably like this!

Be warned though, it does deserve it's 15 rating - it contains some explicit scenes and swearing in almost every sentence. It was directed by Damien O'Donnell - East Is East is his most successful film and the rest of his films seem pretty unmemorable. Just don't watch it with your mum!