At the time this film was screened to the press, FGM
(Female Genital Mutilation) was in the news with the
first conviction been sought. The traditional values
and mores of non-national cultures in Britain where
conflicting with normative Western ideals, has not
really been a huge territory for film makers
here. The differences have usually been given
the trite humour associated with East is East and
Bhaji on the Beach. The gradual dissipation of
political correctness has paved the way for the themes
of this film, alongside the recent swathe of dissent
at mass immigration, so the timeliness of this piece
is right on the money. Watching can be hard
work. There are one or two moments which are truly
repulsive, but this is no doubt done purposely. It
fits within the macabre notions of grooming and Asian
chauvinism more than the belief that hard working
Asian families provide an example of hard work and
collective values paying off.
The fears addressed by the film are backed up by UN
stats on honour killings in the civilised world, in
the UK as many as 12 a year.
There are elements of the film that are purely
unbelievable: the logistics involved in finding a
missing person in the unfriendly soup of London (the
demographics are inconceivable, even to the
government), the social political backstory of the
Bounty Hunter played by Paddy Considine (doing a Ray
Winstone impersonation) and the characters of the
mother and elder brother are given an escalated evil
sinisterism that would be open to discovery within a
tight, judgmental community whether that be the
Metropolitan Police or within the residential network
in Southall, London. That said, the film is
often brilliant for its bravery and in showing a dark
side of the post imperial multicultural dream, which
we all realise by now - is far from the truth.
The focus is that of a runaway, a Punjabi girl who has
defied her family, overshadowed by the fear and
feelings of a dead patriarch and has opted for a life
of her own with a man she has chosen. The story
design follows an anti-plot structure with the linear
format done away with, the beginning and ending
sitting at book ends of the story arc, but this
does not prove as much a distraction as it could
have. The bit part characters on the train from
south to north of England are realistic enough and
cause a shudder - here the underclass and fears they
resonate not done as well since Eden Lake - the
superior British horror film. The strongest and most
gut churning of the players though are the mother and
elder brother, Kazim (played by Faraz Ayub). In a
shocking sequence these two Shakespearean baddies kill
the girl, Mona (Aiysha Hart)stow her away in a trunk
with a view to having her done with in the
nearby woods (the woods scene is terrific).
Cue Paddy who has in his nasty past been a White Power
Supremist/National Front supporter to sniff her out in
the big metropolis and bring her home. Little do the
larger than life baddies know, but Bounty is on a
course of redemption, as sometimes is the way for hard
men in movies and he has his own demons to face via
the catalyst choice he makes in Mona's survival. There
is thankfully an absence of sexual tension between
these two, which is fantastic and refreshing. The
mid-section face-off between the male leads is scary
and confusing: Kazim has a vision of the future of
Britain and it is an all Asian utopia with the whites
as minority, though in some areas of London this is
far from a future vision, it is usually predominant in
areas the white middle class avoid after 6pm. The
major cultural flaw is that his bent on superiority
would only have its conduit in the public sector;
hence the relative ignorance of aim in the
multicultural police force, a similar story set in the
financial district just would not exist, nor would the
impetus.
Still though, a powerful, modern drama with some
strong characterisations of the current zeitgeist.
On general cinema release from 4 April, on DVD from 28
April 2014.