East Is East (1999)

This is a dreadful drama film about a dictatorial man who uses violence against his downtrodden wife and their children.It's about 8 parts drama to 2 parts comedy, yet it was misleadingly advertised as a light-hearted comedy. The video cover had a young interracial couple on it - but the fling between those two characters is merely a tiny subplot. One poster had a smiling little boy on a space hopper. However, the child in question is unhappy throughout the film and space hoppers hardly feature in it. The American poster prominently featured a young white girl and the Pakistani characters were shown only in the distance. In reality, the only major white character is the Pakistani man's middle-aged wife.

Aka. FISH & CHIP, a UK film whose plot hinges on a Pakistani family living in UK, the patriarch is a traditional chauvinist whose only tenet is to do everything in Pakistani Muslim ways, while the mother is English, with 7 children, the cultural collision and marriage-defiant headaches begin to aggravate the family, and finally ends with a drolly amusing farce. From Irish director Damien O'Donnell (his debut feature), this film emanates a great sense of humour (never pull it off overhead) and a whiff of theatrical commotion when the storyline needs it, supplying career-best leading roles from both Om Puri, who is deft in embodying himself into a highly unlovable character even without any preach-the-converted statement, and Linda Bassett as the chafing-yet-united parent, imaginably with 7 offspring (6 boys and 1 girl, age ranging from 6 to 25) to coping with, the familial disarray can dissuade many chic couples from children-rearing quandary, not counting there is a bigger hurdle standing in front of them, the religious disparity, Puri is an out-and-out Pakistani, even living in England, has an English wife (which is his second one while his first wife is still living in Pakistan), he rebuffs any discord and claims absolute submission from his family members, as long as he is still the man-of-the-house, even resorting to domestic violence when things are out of his control. As the most-of-the-time pliant, sometimes witty, but complete sympathetic mother, Bassett has her gut to fight back for her children, and her performance does has an effect of sublimating the heightened tension and brings about some excellent empathy which sharply differs from a general comedic tonality. All seven progeny and a handful supporting roles are molded with distinctive personalities (with many laughable episodes to entertain the viewers). So, about the aforementioned preach-the-converted argument, the film can be a tint offensive to portray Pakistani people in a quasi-teasing milieu (the two Pakistani maidens are rather wickedly selected), it seems the film is assuming the audience should already taken their stand (against the abominably bigoted father figure), clearly the truth is this fictional approach opts for its own British slant towards the Muslim immigrants, it may find its voice in the island, but elsewhere, its acceptance inevitably needs to be tested under the surface of its light-hearted masquerade. PS: My Oscar entry, Linda Bassett storms at No.6 in the BEST LEADING ACTRESS category.

I decided to register my vote on this film because I was surprised to see that it had scored so low. One person stated this was "a fairly standard drama", which smacks to me of Jane Austen and Midsomer Murders, although it is probably the most "untypical" drama I have ever seen. What I had found to be a delightful and poignant portrayal of "a personal experience" of life in a mixed race marriage in England's 1970's, has been lambasted by some very narrow minded critics on IMDb. I therefore went on to research the writer of the film and if you want to check it out for yourself go to http://english.emory.edu/Bahri/Khan1.html If, having looked at Ayub Khan-Din's own comments, the people who have scored a "1" for this film still believe that this is a "skillfully made racist movie" or that "In this age of political correctness, this film openly lambastes Pakistani culture and its beliefs", perhaps they should look again from an "insider's" point of view. ..."This was our Pakistani life; this is how we existed outside Salford. A life none of my friends knew or could understand...I think in 'East is East' I came as close as possible to understanding my father's motivation in the way he tried to bring us up," ………"The parents are drawn directly from my own family." A less "standard drama" you would be hard pushed to find!

This film is about a controlling Pakistani father who sets the path for all his children to follow.Given that "East Is East" is a film about racial and cultural differences, it has to be executed in a delicate manner. I think it has done well, as the plot is funny and thought provoking, thought being offensive. The characters are realistic and engaging, all the seven children have their own unique personality. The relationship between the siblings and the parents are portrayed well. For example, the other siblings are jealous of Maneer as he is the father's favourite child. I was impressed that I managed to recognise and remember the names of all the seven kids! The controlling and authoritarian rule of the father is thought provoking. Given the society and cultural values are rapidly shifting, people who do not change with the times bring misery to themselves and others around them. When the father threatens Tariq at knife point, I thought I would already have gone to the police and the social services if I were them. The fact that Ella and the children tolerate this oppressive regime and domestic violence mirrors many real cases out there right now. It is sad.Despite the very heavy and sensitive subject matter, "East Is East" contains many hilarious moments. The best one for me is that the family pretends to be very British during the Shah family visit. When Meenah answered "Righty ho" in Queen's English, I laughed out loud! "East Is East" is a rare hybrid of entertainment and food for thought.