East Is East

1999 "A comedy of families, a chip shop... and a very randy dog."
East Is East
6.9| 1h37m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 May 1999 Released
Producted By: BBC
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.

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jlove8080 East is East is an excellent film. It is very funny and has a great story line. Also the actors in the film deliver an outstanding performance. George is not presented to us as an unreasonable way, but at the same time, he will, in his frustration, strike out even physically at the children and the wife who seem to oppose him and his beliefs. We sense the fear that runs through him that, if his sons are allowed to exercise their freedom in this one crucial area, the family will sever that connection with the past which brings stability to their lives. This is an all round fun film that can be watched with family and friends.
Lee Eisenberg Damien O'Donnell's "East Is East" is a clash-of-cultures story. It focuses on a family in Salford in 1971. The father (Om Puri) is a Pakistani immigrant and the mother (Linda Bassett) is an Irish Catholic. The father is trying to raise his children as if he still lives in the old country, but it simply does not fit their upbringing in 1960s-1970s England (especially with what we find out about the oldest son). To be certain, there are some VERY tense scenes when the father thinks that his wife and children are disrespecting him.A particularly funny scene is what somewhat writes on the Bradford sign. Of course, this brings to mind the large South Asian presence in England, or the rising immigrant populations in any country. The point is that there are bound to be issues of cultural assimilation no matter where you are. Most importantly, it's a very good movie. I highly recommend it.
Ann-Kristin C. The movie "East is East" mainly shows the difference between Parkistani and European families.One of the main characters George Khan is the father of the family which clarifies this difference the most.He is cleaved between the love to his family and teaching his children the Parkistani life. But this isn't so easy easy it seems, because nearly every member of his family has his own way to dispute the Parkistani life. This is already point up at the beginning,when the oldest son "Nazir" runs away from his wedding,by the reason that he is gay. As well his brother "Tariq" is the rebel of the family, he fights against that, what his parents want him to do. Also Saleem another son, is a art student,what is against his fathers idea to become a Ingeneur. Maneer seems to be the only child of the seven, which stands behind his father. So it is shown, that nearly everybody of the Khan family isn't a perfect Parkistani. In fact of that, it isn't an astonishment, that at the end of the film happens a big conflict with George Khan ,where everybody fights against them, till the very surprising end. I think the film is great to show the difference of the Asian culture in the family aspect.There is a good suspense and every time there happened a new mistake , which shouldn't happened in a Parkistani family!
Chrissie B. "East is East"- another boring film we have to watch in our English lesson. These were my first thoughts when I heard that this film will be the next topic our English class has to deal with. But that is absolutely not the case! This film is a great enrichment for the viewer and it is no boring stuff at all.Ayub Khan-Din wrote a fantastic script which is perfectly put into action by Damien O'Donnell. The cast members did a good job by giving their characters influences to link them into the right direction. For example Om Puri who played his complex character "George Khan" with such a conviction and even the youngest cast member Jordan Routledge who has absolutely not to hide behind his co-cast members in his performance of „Sajid Khan". Also the setting in the 70's is a big success so that you get the impression as if you are living within this time. Mostly I liked the way the writers handled the difficult topic of the different lifestyles of Pakistani and British people without speaking in favour for one group. They used a lot of prejudices about both cultures but they converted it into funny scenes everybody has to laugh about. So a good balance between comedy and tragedy is created because of the spontaneous comic relieves. The film gives a good opportunity for watching it for entertainment but also for talking seriously about it, like for example the two generations and their different points of view: On the one hand we can see the young generation of Sajid who does not care if his friend Earnest is a Pakistani or not. And also Tariq who does not want to be a devout Pakistani and likes partying all night even if his father gets angry about it. But on the other hand, there is the older generation of immigrants George belongs to which is extremely influenced by their traditional values and it is hard for them to adapt to the British society. It seems as if especially George does not learn from his mistakes: After the failed arranged marriage of eldest son Nazir, he tries to plan marriages for his sons Tariq and Abdul who are strongly against it. At the end, left alone from his family, George seems to be contemplative and Ella goes back to him for reconciliation. But the viewer does not get to know whether George changes his behaviour or not but you can still hope it! And that's why "East is East" is such an intoxicating movie: Everybody can identify with one of the characters and so you suffer with Ella when she is beaten up by her husband, you laugh with the siblings when they are teasing each other, you want to give them good advices and most importantly, you think about what you would have done in their situation.So I can really recommend watching this movie because of the good balance of comical and tragically effects, the great actors and not to forget, the fantastic story written by a man who collected his first experiences by creating this script which was such a success.