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So much average

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Absolutely Fantastic

"East Is East" can be seen as a return to the tradition of "kitchen sink realism", which was responsible for so many fine British films in the fifties and sixties. It has a number of similarities with one of the last of those films, "Spring and Port Wine". Both films are set in industrial towns in Lancashire (Salford here, Bolton in the earlier film). Both are set in the same period, the late sixties/early seventies. And both are centred upon a strict, autocratic father who finds his authority being challenged by rebellious children. There are, however, two major differences. One is that the action of "Spring and Port Wine" took place around the time it was made, whereas "East Is East" is a period piece, made in 1999 but set in 1971. It relies heavily on nostalgic period detail, featuring the fashions, pop music (The Hollies), television ("The Clangers") and even toys (spacehoppers) of the era, although there are a couple of errors. Enoch Powell, for example, is seen on television referring to Alec Douglas-Home as Conservative Party leader (he resigned from that office in 1965) and there is a reference to the half-crown, a pre-decimal coin which ceased to be legal tender after 1969. The other major difference is that "East is East" revolves around the question of race, something that was quite absent in "Spring and Port Wine". The father in this case is Zahir "George" Khan, the Pakistani Muslim owner of a fish-and-chip shop, who has lived in England since 1937. He is married to Ella, a white British woman, and they have seven children, six sons and a daughter. (There may, in fact, be some doubt about the legitimacy of their marriage under English law; we learn that he has a first wife still living in Pakistan, from whom he has never been formally divorced). The film starts with the oldest son Nazir refusing to go through with an arranged marriage, leading Zahir to disown him. (We later learn that Nazir is in fact gay). With the exception of Maneer, who is a devout Muslim, the remaining children, who were born and grew up in Britain, see themselves as British rather than Pakistani, and resent their father's insistence that they should follow Pakistani customs of dress, food and religion. Some of them, for example, go so far as to drink alcohol and eat pork, but always behind their father's back. It should be noted that Zahir does not always follow his own precepts; he is generally known as "George", but has given all his children Muslim names and his sons Abdul and Tariq have to hide from their father the fact that among their English friends they are generally known as "Arthur" and "Tony". (Nazir goes by the name "Nigel"). Similarly, although George has himself married a white woman he would be horrified to know that Tariq has a white girlfriend. There have been a number of other recent comedies about the Asian immigrant communities in Britain and their relations with the indigenous British community- "Anita and Me" and "Bend It like Beckham" are two other examples which come to mind- but "East Is East", based on a play by Ayub Khan-Din, himself of Asian ancestry, takes a harder, more critical, look at Asian culture, especially at practices such as arranged marriages. Rafe Crompton, the central character of "Spring and Port Wine" had, for all his strictness as a father, a basic decency and kindness which enabled the Crompton family to stick together when threatened by crisis. George, by contrast, is an overbearing domestic tyrant who bullies his children and beats his wife when she tries to stand up for them. He even assaults the normally loyal and obedient Maneer. He resents the racist attitudes of his English neighbours, but displays similar prejudices himself, against Hindus ("cow-worshipping bastards!") and even against his fellow-Muslims from East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was then known. ("Bengali baboons!") Imagine the furore which would have been unleashed had epithets like these been uttered by a white character. At times he resembles not Rafe Crompton but an Asian version of Alf Garnett, the monstrous anti-hero of "Till Death Us Do Part". Ayub Khan-Din took his title from a poem by Kipling, "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet". Kipling's theme was the differences between Eastern and Western culture, so the title is appropriate to a film on the same theme, although since Kipling write these lines East and West have indeed met in all sorts of ways he never dreamed of. In the context of the film, in fact, the implication is that when East and West do meet there should be some two-way cultural exchange, a suggestion that it is in nobody's interests for immigrant communities to try and live in some sort of monocultural ghetto, rejecting Western influences, as George is trying to. "East Is East" is sometimes described as a comedy, and there are certainly a number of amusing scenes, such as the ones in which George- who clearly has not learned his lesson following the debacle with Nazir- tries to arrange marriages for Abdul and Tariq to the two daughters of a Pakistani family from Leeds, despite the fact that the girls are fat and ugly, their father rude and arrogant and their mother a monstrous snob. If it is a comedy, however, it is a rather bleak and bitter one; George is a deeply unpleasant individual and we are left uncomfortably aware that attitudes like his could all too easily lead to tragedy. If we laugh at him, it is a very uneasy form of laughter indeed. 7/10

I decided to register my vote on this film because I was surprised to see that it had scored so low. One person stated this was "a fairly standard drama", which smacks to me of Jane Austen and Midsomer Murders, although it is probably the most "untypical" drama I have ever seen. What I had found to be a delightful and poignant portrayal of "a personal experience" of life in a mixed race marriage in England's 1970's, has been lambasted by some very narrow minded critics on IMDb. I therefore went on to research the writer of the film and if you want to check it out for yourself go to http://english.emory.edu/Bahri/Khan1.html If, having looked at Ayub Khan-Din's own comments, the people who have scored a "1" for this film still believe that this is a "skillfully made racist movie" or that "In this age of political correctness, this film openly lambastes Pakistani culture and its beliefs", perhaps they should look again from an "insider's" point of view. ..."This was our Pakistani life; this is how we existed outside Salford. A life none of my friends knew or could understand...I think in 'East is East' I came as close as possible to understanding my father's motivation in the way he tried to bring us up," ………"The parents are drawn directly from my own family." A less "standard drama" you would be hard pushed to find!

Let me start by saying that this film is terribly mislabeled as a comedy when it is, in fact, very much a drama. Yes, there are times when I laughed out loud but I chose this film because I was in the mood for a comedy. Had I been in the mood for a drama I am sure I would have scored the film much higher."East is East" is the story of a Pakistani father, George Khan, his Caucasian British wife, Ella, and their seven children. The acting is superb, the writing is excellent, and the soundtrack is wonderful. Having said all of that, I do have a few issues with the film. (SPOILER ALERT) First, the oldest son, Nazir, just kind of disappears for a while without any explanation. Did he run away? Did he kill himself? Where did he go? We find out about halfway through the film when his father pronounces that he is dead. This leaves the viewer wondering how one could have missed such an important event, but a few minutes later we realize that Nazir is only dead to him. In fact, we discover, albeit something I guessed in the first ten minutes of the film, that Nazir is gay. This is all the more reason for his Pakistani father to call him dead.My second issue with the film is that I really liked all of the characters, even the strict and traditional George. Ella is charming the way she can talk him down from almost any argument with typical British humor mixed with a few choice swear words. The kids adore their mother and, although they disagree with him, they love their father. This led me to believe that the film was going to be a "Dad is a strict traditional man, kids and mom are not, so this is the story of how everyone changes Dad." (SPOILER ALERT) Unfortunately, the story became, "Dad is an abusive and closed-minded bastard and starts beating on anyone, including mom, who dares to defy him." I just don't understand why the story had to change this way. I left the film wishing Ella would leave her bastard husband and raise her kids on her own. We went from the tenderness of how Ella would ask George if he would like some tea and he would reply, "just half a cup", to George calling her a "bloody b****" and giving her a black eye. Why? My final issue with the film is the ending. (SPOILER ALERT) We are left with nothing changed in the family other than the children discovering that their father isn't just strict, he is cruel. I just feel incomplete after watching "East is East". I get that the Pakistani culture is very different from British culture and that, particularly in the 1970's, the west was not very open to accepting this new group of immigrants. What else came of this story? I don't feel warm and fuzzy toward this culture if George is a shining of example of how the men truly behave. Why did he choose to marry outside of his own culture if he hates it so much? Why raise children with a mother who is not Muslim and not from Pakistan if you are just going to teach them that it is unacceptable to marry anyone who is not from Pakistan? I feel like I got a glimpse of a very dysfunctional family who will never see a happy ending and that is just not why I choose to watch films. I watch films to learn something new, or to laugh, to perhaps cry a little, but overall, I watch films to have a few hours of enjoyment. I watch films to forget my own problems for a while. After watching this, I just feel like I would have been better off calling my own family back home and hearing about their issues and problems.

"East is East", not only a movie about a Pakistani family in England. The story of the "Khan-Family"is typical for most families all over the world. On the one hand, George is very strict and wants to control the family and on the other hand Ella loves her family and tries to protect them. But the whole family loves each other most the time. The story is underlined with many filming techniques very well, so that you can identify with the characters. The situations in this movie are not so positive for the members of the Khan family, but with a little bit of British humour it becomes funny. Because of this " East is East" s not a normal tragedy, it is also a comedy. All in all it is a movie about family-life with a touch of Asian culture.