On Film4 tonight at 9pm
In 1970s Salford, a Pakistani chip shop owner (Om Puri), long resident in Britain and married to an English wife (Linda Bassett), is determined to raise his seven children as traditional Muslims, but they have other ideas.
Most people see East is East as a film about cultural differences, and of course it is. But for me, the movie’s message is much more about how utterly destructive a demanding parent can be.
Too often people have kids and expect them to live out their dreams for them and this occurs in all cultures and has formed the subject of many films. However, in this clever comedy the youngsters are the products of two different backgrounds and can clearly never completely conform to the cultural demands of just one parent.
It’s an extremely effective demonstration of just how unreasonable and ridiculous a parent’s self-centred wishes can be, and wonderfully hilarious in the process.
I also love this British film for reminding me of my childhood growing up in the north-west in the 1970s.
