Brick Lane

Director: Sarah Gavron
Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Zafreen
Genre: Drama 2007
Running time: 102 mins. 
Rating:★★★★


A young Bangladeshi woman, Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee), arrives in 1980's London, leaving behind her beloved sister and home for an arranged marriage with the middle-aged Chanu (Satish Kaushik), she fears her soul is quietly dying. Her sister Hasina (Zafreen), meanwhile, continues to live a carefree life back in Bangladesh, stumbling from one adventure to the next. Nazneen struggles to accept her new lifestyle, and keeps her head down in spite of her predicament, but she's soon forced to confront her dreams when the hotheaded young Karim (Christopher Simpson) comes knocking at her door. Based on the best-selling novel by Monica Ali.

Is Nazneen able to indure what her mother could not? Can you escape the fate laid out for you?Very subtle visuals of her childhood and her mother's death, which has you empathize and hungering to follow Nazneen's journey from the start. How free and peaceful her childhood was. Then "gratefulness" of her father choose an educated middle-aged husband, but the audience can tell how trapped and weighted down like a ton of bricks her psyche is. Her letters from her sister is the only way Nazneen can fantasize about a different life. It is depressing to witness her husband boasting of giving his family of a great life, but in reality things are crumbling and false. One must ask, does our parent's/culture's traditions that have been forced on our upbringing, have to be forced on our children? Or can we choose to allow them to decide for themselves? But fantasizing only goes so far, the rest she has to do herself. It is through her relationship with Karim that she finds the inner strength to do so. Just because you had your own voice before doesn't mean you wouldn't have it again and through a long treacherous struggle, Nazneen finds that freedom with or without the need of the "required" man dictating her life.

Wonderfully casted and organic cinematography that allows follow in Nazeen's shoes, feel that you are as trapped as she is and desiring for independence. The film explores romance, soul searching, and cultural differences all through the eyes of Nazneen. Every aspect is well thought out, for even the smallest interaction on the street or picture on the wall plays a vital role in illustrating the story. The rushing of thoughts along with the rushing of past events, when Nazeen finally can't take living this surpressed-sheltered life is very organic, subtle, and powerful because you as the audience are feeling similarly. It doesn't matter if you're white, asian, black, or purple, man or woman, the story is relatable at all levels.