The Film
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, two worlds, one story, juxtaposed, yet an ocean apart. A look at our persuit of a dream, and success, and the battle against equality.
The film follows Changez (Riz Ahmed) as he persues The American Dream, leaving his home in Pakistan and rising quickly through the ranks of power in a firm on Wall Street, yet as the events of September 11, 2001 strike, he finds the world polarised, and each side prejudiced towards the other.
Changez returns to Pakistan, and becomes embroiled in a hostage drama, his conflict of wanting The American Dream, and wanting to remain true to his homeland.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist shows a stark, real look at the two worlds, their similarities and their differences, and how one’s ideals or goals will inevitably affect the innocent.
An engrossing story, well portrayed.
The Disc
The disc is encoded at a high bitrate, and so can be scaled via software to HD, but towards the latter part of the disc there were increasing screen artefacts, and even more disturbing some very loud audio pops. These are unfortunate, as they mar a very good story.
Audio does not make use of the surrounds, but the story, for the most part, does not lend itself to scenes that would be greatly enhanced by the surrounds.
There are no bonus features on the disc, which is a pity, as some insight in to the locations, and the events that form the background of the story, would have been most welcomed.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is available to purchase in South Africa now.