Rated The Reluctant Fundamentalist 6/10
A moving film about allegiances at the social, national, and personal levels, The Reluctant Fundamentalist has high aims but fails to fully render its many messages. Because of this, a beautiful film about the origins of culture clash and the role patriotism and fear play in producing these inevitabilities, comes across heavy-handed. This is a bit of a disappointment as the casting is spot-on--Riz Ahmed, Kiefer Sutherland, and Om Puri give some incredibly magnetic performances--and there is no dearth of technical skill.Typically I'm a fan of overambitious films, but this manages to somehow telegraph a variety of positions while never quite putting its foot down. It is perhaps too comfortable with ambiguity, certainly more comfortable than its audience is. At the film's opening this makes for compelling and interesting material, but the fact that few concrete answers or explanations are offered on the ontologies of its characters' motivations ensures that the congealed product is unrewarding. It comes as no surprise, then, that many of the supporting cast exist solely to add context and are themselves underdeveloped.All said, the film IS vibrant. When not dominated by the rich sounds and visuals of Pakistan, ethereal vocalizations and sheer and embroidered textiles, the film is arguably at its most uninteresting. One of the things I loved, in particular, was how the soundtrack was used to inspire feeling or to accompany the feelings being created and shown on screen. The sound profile of the film is itself incredibly diverse and enjoyable; the soundtrack contains oral chants, hip hop beats, and melodious instrumentations, all of which are creatively and effectively woven into the narrative.Through this film we come to realize that militancy is rarely a mask of our making or choosing, that sometimes it is chosen for us. This is the kind of film that brings cerebrality and moral philosophy to characters we often hear about but never see. While a smaller scale might have provided for more powerful meditations on the social constraints of identity, this remains a film to be seen because it manages to be both race and class-conscious, all while subverting the popular characterizations of peoples and groups in the middle east. It doesn't do it well, but it does it. And that is saying something.
