The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013) makes me feel conflicted, but not for the reasons that Mira Nair would like. In other words, I have no doubt that she wants the audience to feel conflicted by the film’s protagonist, the Pakistani youth Changez, who wavers between simply opting out of Western values and becoming a jihadi, and on this level, the film succeeds. But I doubt that Nair would like the audience to feel conflicted on whether or not the film itself is any good.

To start, I should say that Mira Nair is one of my favorite directors. I have seen nearly all of her films, from Salaam Bombay to The Namesake, and Monsoon Wedding is one of my all-time favorite films. I admire not just her stories but also her incredible visual sense, complemented by stunning music soundtracks. Moreover, her actors, many of them not professionals, usually give extraordinary performances. So what’s wrong with The Reluctant Fundamentalist?

First off, the lead actor, Riz Ahmed playing Changez, is exceptional as a brilliant Pakistani who attends Princeton and, determined to make a fortune, then takes a job on Wall Street as a financial analyst. He soon falls in love with Erica, a young, wealthy woman (played by Kate Hudson), and so he seems set for life in the adopted country that he has come to love, America.

9/11 changes everything.

Returning to New York after a business trip a week after the attacks, Changez is treated harshly by airport security officials, who strip search him with barely restrained brutality. Over the next few months, he is treated with scorn, if not outright hatred, by the people around him, including the co-workers who had been his friends just a month earlier and by strangers he meets in his day to day life. In response, Changez begins to speak positively about Islam and to grow a beard. Predictably, he then encounters even more hostility until he decides to resign his career to return to Lahore, where he becomes a college professor the government later accuses of radicalizing his students.

My problem with the film is that the Americans—from his love interest (played by the mediocre Hudson) to his boss (the wooden Kiefer Sutherland)—are cardboard figures that act in the most stereotypical ways. We’re to believe, for example, Erica would really mount an art exhibition around the theme “I Slept with a Pakistani” that she intends as an expression of her love for him. She’s baffled that Changez feels deeply insulted and exploited. This scene is simply unconvincing and irritating, as are most of the scenes with Changez and his venal, greedy boss.

It’s surprising (and disappointing) that Mira Nair goes for predictable conflict and easy politics in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I hope she back on track with her next film!