East is East

Whenever there is a crossover movie with Indian people, I always feel somewhat obligated to see it, even if it looks terrible. This movie did not look that great, but I saw it at the recommendation of a friend. It is definitely worth watching. The movie East is East is about a conservative Pakistani man and his British wife living in London in the 1970s. The father tries his best to hold on to the traditions of Islam and those of his homeland. He tries to raise his kids having these ideas instilled in their heads, but to no avail. Each one of them rebels from these ideas in a different way, probably most obviously with the example of their homosexual son who runs away to be a fashion designer. The father has a horrible temper and beats his children and wife in fits of rage. Unfortunately, this kind of situation is not too far-fetched. The father struggles to scare his children into submission, to God or to himself is probably an debatable issue. Meanwhile, his children are left with a tainted conception of what Islam stands for. This is perhaps why they have run away from the faith. The mother struggles find courage to stand up to the father and show how he gives Muslims a bad name. The film is ultimately hopeful and funny at times. It serves to expose the tyranny of some people in how they treat their families, with the guise of Islam as a defense for their ways. I would recommend it to anyone.