A young Princeton grad (Ahmed) starts a promising career on Wall Street when 9/11 brings its turmoil to his life. Returning to his homeland as a lecturer, his suspected ties with a terrorist organisation leads Liev Schreiber's journalist to his door.
by Damon Wise |
Published on
Release Date:
10 May 2013
Running Time:
130 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Reluctant Fundamentalist, The
An interesting companion piece to Zero Dark Thirty, Mira Nair’s political but also very human drama uses the aftermath of 9/11 to explore Osama bin Laden’s legacy from a less populist angle.
Riz Ahmed stars as Changez Khan, a smart, sensitive Pakistani man who appears to drift from social conformism to radical terrorism, which we see through the eyes of an American reporter, Bobby (Liev Schreiber). Khan appears to be involved in a kidnapping, but, like Nair’s film, he has some surprises in store. The story sags a little in the middle, but Ahmed is magnetic as the ambiguous lead.
Ahmed excels and the set-up is compelling but ultimately this is middle rank stuff from the Monsoon Wedding director.
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