BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

UK, 2019, 117 minutes, Colour.
Viveik Kaira, Kulvinda Ghir, Aaron Phagura, Hayley Atwell, Nell Williams, Dean- Charles Chapman, Rob Brydon, Sally Phillips.
Directed by Gurinda Chadha.

On hearing the title of this film, if one were of a Scriptural bent, it might suggest something of St Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus. But, even without the Pauline reference, this is a story of conversion!

The convert is a 16-year-old student from Luton, north of London, whose parents were immigrants to Britain from Pakistan. He is a pleasant youngster, Javed, and played by Viveik Kaira. His father is an ambitious man, who defied his father in leaving the subcontinent to migrate to Britain, has raised a family of three children with his quiet, quite subservient, wife, two daughters and a son. His main preoccupation is work and the making of money, supporting his family, and imposing his patriarchal expectations on his wife and children.

Not an easy road for Javed. He is something of an introspective boy, keeping a diary for several early teenage years, writing many poems, a deeply felt ambition to be a writer – but, in Margaret Thatcher’s England, with restructuring and increasing unemployment, this seems something of a dream.

His friend across the street, Matt, leads a band and Javed supplies some of the lyrics for the songs. But, in his final year at school, he is hoping to achieve straight As and go to university in Manchester.

So, this is something of a dream, something of a fantasy… And, as regards conversion, it comes in the form of a gift from a school friend, Roops, who is a fan of Bruce Springsteen (and Springsteen fans would have immediately realised this from the title of the film), and sho lends Javed a cassette and, while Javed is not struck to the ground like St Paul, the first song is a moment of grace, lyrics that Javed can identify with, that Luton is, in fact, not all that far from New Jersey, working class people, songs of real-life.

Actually, despite the difficulties, Javed is lucky to find a very sympathetic teacher, Miss Clay (Hayley Atwell) who encourages him and enables him even to visit the sacred sites of Springsteen’s New Jersey. And there is a sympathetic girl, Eliza (Nell Williams) who has condescendingly superior parents whom she loves to upset.

The film takes its audience into the difficulties of the Pakistani family, the day by day insults and spitting, the graffiti on walls, the attacks on the mosque, the neo-Nazis and their processions and supremacist attitudes and chants. There are also the problems of unemployment, scarcity of jobs, the seeming impossibility of getting out of Luton. And, there is the continued domination of the Father who has no imagination about his son’s life and ambitions.

The screenplay by director, Gurinda Chada (herself of Indian background originally from Kenya and her husband and writing partner, Paul Mayeda Berges, is both insightful and sympathetic – and one remembers that she made such entertaining films as Bend it like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice but also took audiences into the reality of Hindu and Muslim experiences during Partition in Viceroy’s House.

But, this is ultimately a feelgood film, that the impossible might sometimes be quite possible. And, interesting to note, the spate of music films coming from Britain, from Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman to the Beatles’ nostalgia of Yesterday. This is a pleasant companion piece, lower key in the story of Javed, higher key in the music of Bruce Springsteen.

1. The title? The Bruce Springsteen song, Springsteen and his music and lyrics, his impact, for so many decades?

2. Britain in the 1980s, the Thatcher era, social concerns, unemployment, race issues, bigotry? White supremacists?

3. The town of Luton, north of London, the town itself, homes, markets, shops, cafes, factories, job centres, school? The surrounding hills and scenery and the traffic passing to and fro?

4. The visit to New Jersey, the Bruce Springsteen memorabilia, the postcards?

5. The musical score, Springsteen songs, pre-1987? Musical style, the lyrics, meanings? Empathy with the working class?

6. Javid story, the Pakistani background, his parents, the migration from Pakistan, hopes for Britain? The father, defying his parents, coming to Britain, hopes, working in the factory, the importance of money, the family, the mother, quiet, her sewing? The children? The next generation becoming British? Javid and his story, by 1987?

7. The father, character, demands, strictness, focus on money, his lack of imagination, especially as regards his son? The mother in the background, the sisters, preparing for marriage for the older sister, the younger one at school? And the comedy of pushing the car to get it started? The children becoming more British – and the Pakistani British teenagers going to a daytime club for dancing?

8. Javid, young, writing his diaries and poems? From a young age? His being very private? At school, wanting straight As, in class, the response to Miss Clay, her style, empathy, her supporting him, seeing Javid as a writer, reading his problems, the competition, his winning? Her satisfaction at the end at the graduation? Achievement with him?

9. Hostility towards the Pakistanis, spitting, getting them to move from tables, comment on their smell, the graffiti on houses, the demonstrations, the supremacists, the attack on the mosque? Javid and his having the opportunity to write about the mosque, getting paid, on the front page, Mr Evans and his praise, his father not comprehending, objection to attention being brought to them?

10. Mr Evans is neighbour, watching, his war experience, supporting Javid, his coming in with the newspaper front page?

11. Javid as a loner, not being allowed to go to parties with Matt, friendship with Roops, Sikh, at the dining room, friendship, lending him the Springsteen’s tapes, playing them, the transformation, his own lyrics Matt and his band? The friendship with girls? Eliza in class, her response, the friendship? Developing? Her appreciating his problems, the poem for her? His hesitance, then his exuberance? His writing the lyrics for Matt?

12. Matt, his father, Matt and his band, Javid’s lyrics, Matt not liking Springsteen and Javid hurting him? The later apology?

13. The meal at Eliza’s house, her rebellion against her aristocratic parents, the continued faux pas in language and manner, Javid not drinking wine, Eliza wanting to provoke her parents? Her behaviour with placards at the protest at the mosque?

14. His father and losing his job, unemployment in Britain, in his suit going to the job centre? Demanding of his family, the focus on money, pawning his wife’s rings? Not understanding Javid? Patriarchal attitudes, his wife, the visitor with the cloths, the intensity and extra sewing?

15. Bruce Springsteen and Javid coming alive, the device of having the lyrics and words on screen, Springsteen’s topics, Javid identifying with him, the songs at the market, everybody exuberantly joining in? Javid in Roops and their singing? Roops as a good and constant friend?

16. The wedding, Javid going to buy the tickets for the concert, the attack, his father’s injuries, his father confronting him, tearing up the tickets?

17. Javid, defiance, going out the door, to New Jersey with Roops, the joy?

18. His father, his mother confronting her husband about losing her son?

19. The graduation, the principal and her speech, Javid and his reading his story, his family appearing, his hesitation, the applause?

20. Manchester, the University, the support of his family, leaving Luton but Luton not Believing him?

21. An entertainment, music, memories of the past? The true story and the photos of the actual characters at the end?