BRICK LANE

Review: A young woman named Nazneen from Bangladesh, arrives in London in the 1980’s. She leaves her beloved sister at home for an arranged marriage and a new life. She feels trapped within the four walls of her flat in East London, and feels like she is in a loveless marriage with middle aged Chanu.
Director: Sarah Gavron
Actors: Tamishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Lalita Ahmed, Harvey Virdi and Harsh Nayyar
Year: 2007
Genre: Drama
Conclusion: 3/5
This is an adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel by director Sarah Gavron, who would then go on to direct the brilliant Suffragette, 2015. The director describes this movie as “A woman finding her place in the world finding her voice”. Apparently Tamishtha Chatterjee is now a big star in the Bollywood scene and has had a little part in Lion, 2016. Fantastic performances from the whole cast. The whole film feels so true to life. At the time of this film coming out there were widely-reported controversies that dodged its creation which included protests from East End Bangladeshis and the cancellation of a ‘royal premiere’. This film is good-natured and very positive. As it builds up to the conclusion it is both convincing and uplifting. The film is best summed up in the words by co-writer Abi Morgan who had described this film as “twenty years of marriage, and two kinds of love; young, passionate love that takes your breath away and the love that is like a grain of sand, that rubs and rubs until it produces a pearl”.