The Phyllis Chesler Organization
The reluctantly racist filmmaker by Phyllis Chesler The Times of Israel May 7, 2013 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-reluctantly-racist-filmmaker/ Films wield great power over people; cinematic images are forever burned into memory and imagination – even if the memories implanted are false, not based on true facts – but on a sophisticated and biased manipulation of reality. I have just watched The Reluctant Fundamentalist twice. This is Mira Nair's new film about a soulful and handsome Pakistani man who once believed in the American Dream and who succeeded brilliantly as a super-capitalist, but who is forced to abandon corporate America, return home to become, perhaps, a "reluctant" fundamentalist. I write "perhaps" because Nair leaves us wondering about whether such a smart and sympathetic fellow would actually order hostage taking, torture, and murder for a "fundamentalist" cause. Why does her hero leave America and turn against it? Because, immediately post 9/11, Changez Khan, played by Riz Ahmed, is detained and, horrifyingly, strip-searched at the airport; thereafter, he is subjected to anti-Muslim physical and verbal violence on the street; then, he is arrested again by police officers as a potential Muslim terrorist; finally, Changez is exploited and betrayed by Erica, his wealthy American girlfriend-artist, (played by Kate Hudson), who uses their intimate relationship as the subject of her new Art Installation about the exotic Other. » Read more at http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-reluctantly-racist-filmmaker/
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