Om Puri as the character Parvez, opens this film playing a clumsy, overenthusiastic, embarrassing Pakistani immigrant in England, mangling the language and missing every possible social cue. Oh, no, funny little foreign man. Yuk.But then something wonderful happens. We watch Parvez's life fall apart, and he gradually and inexorably turns into a real person of depth and moral struggle. By the end, he has become a person who will live with you long after the film ends.In order to make a living, Parvez drives a cab at night. He also fixes up randy passengers with local hookers, though he is not motivated enough to sample them himself. He feels dirtied by this way of surviving, but does not become a bad person himself.His son, on the other hand, abandons a lovely English girl to join some local Muslim fundamentalists. They are deliberately not clearly identified with either a Sunni or Shiite affiliation, as that is not the purpose of the story. The group imports a radical mullah from the old country, and as he stays in Parvez's house, the son becomes irretrievably estranged from his father.As the action progresses, the son pursues his concept of holiness and purity, and becomes a bad person. Eventually, Parvez's world collapses completely. As Parvez, Om Puri gives a superb performance.What is remarkable about this film is not only the human story, which is real and absorbing, but also a discussion of second-generation Brits turning their backs on Western secular society and reaffirming a rigid, medieval orthodoxy from a country they may never have seen. Now, this is not a documentary and shouldn't be judged as such. What matters here most is the way humans relate to each other in the context of religious zealotry.The scale of violence in this film is modest, but Google "Finsbury Park Mosque raid 2003" and "7 July 2005 London bombings," and you will see the eerie predictive power of art. While watching this film, it's hard to remember that it dates from 1998.This is a worthwhile film in terms of human drama, and a tribute to the power of the artist to see into the future. Highly recommended.

Writer Hanif Kureshi has long been interested in the clash between Western decadence and fanatical Islam which, perceptively, he sees as a war that occurs not between civilisations but within individuals or, as in this film based on one of his books, families. In exploring the conflict between a secularised immigrant and his devout son, the film looks in all the right places, and is full of fine little cameo performances; but I didn't find it a wholly satisfactory affair. Om Puri's character (the father) is needed to hold the story together, but the part feels more like just one more cameo, albeit extended: it's a nicely drawn portrait of a man, but also a shallow one. Also, the film seems dated by its origins pre-dating 9/11. Kureshi refers back, albeit obliquely, to the Salman Rushie affair that first made political Islam an issue in the U.K.; subsequent terrorist atrocities have made the broad subject of this movie more pertinent, but its details less so. Perhaps the real problem is that we never really get to understand the son, who remains a mystery to us as much as he is to his father: an examination of the psychology of fanaticism, or (to cast it in a kinder light) simply that of belief, is strangely absent from the film.

This is a great film, however I must comment that I have found many foreign films listed as "comedy" or "humorous" when in fact they are poignant, disturbing and brilliant (thank you netflix and blockbuster). "No Man's Land" and "Happy Times" are fantastic movies that are incorrectly labeled as comedy, and "My Son the Fanatic" is regrettably categorized as comedy as well. The reality of each character's life is vivid and heart breaking. I felt so uncomfortable witnessing Parvez struggle with his peers, the German, his wife and son, and Bettina. Coupled with "My Beautiful Laundrette" you get a taste of immigrant life in Britain.

Comedies featuring Asians in Britain have met with much recent success . BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM was an international hit while EAST IS EAST was a big hit at the British box office . MY SON THE FANATIC came out a couple of years earlier than the aforementioned comedies and fails to hit the funny bone An Asian taxi driver forms a platonic bond with a prostitute while his son becomes more and more of a Muslim fanatic . The problem with this is that the story tries to say too much on the dangers of racism , religious fundamentalism , assimilation and that we all have the same basic needs despite our differences . I also got the impression that the movie didn't want to offend sensibilties too much , but there's a scene featuring a nasty and racist comic which is somewhat sickening . Needless to say the comic is white ( A Bernard Manning clone ? ) and his target is Asian . As has been mentioned MY SON THE FANATIC has taken on special signicance post 9/11 but this makes it an even more uneasy watch I will praise the cast which includes Om Puri as the Asian taxi driver who's son is becoming more and more fanatical and mixing with the wrong crowd . Puri gives a sad and haunting performance . Rachael Griffiths who I'm sure is going to become a big name soon gives a performance as a prostitute while Stellan Skarsgaard proves as always that he's the most convincing actor to have come out Europe for many years .