Blinded by the light review

Blinded by the light is a film directed by director Gurinder Chadha, that is based off the real-life story of Sarfraz Mansoor, who at the time was a Pakistani teenager living in Luton in the 80s.

He found poetry as a form of solace in his life as well as a love for singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen. This film can be seen on Netflix Ireland/UK. This time period was not the best for people of the Asian community, as this was when groups such as the NF (National Front) were rampant and were committing hate crimes towards people of the Asian community and others.

The film presents the struggles well, as it shows scenes of abuse they received on a daily basis, you can also see how distressed Javed is after. This just further presents how difficult it was for him and his family in the 80s.

This film also shows how music can be influential in many ways. In the film Javed was introduced to Bruce Springsteen by one of his classmates and the moment that he had listened to that first song it changed his life.

He started to find his voice not by just writing but in his life, this leading him to getting a girlfriend and many other things. He was able to relate his lyrics with his own life, because he felt like no one in his family understood him, but Bruce Springsteen did.

Chadha also does a good job in bringing people into the Pakistani Culture and presenting some of the things that Pakistani as well as Asian parents expect from their kids.

Within this movie Javeds father wanted Javed to go to university and become a doctor or lawyer, and did not really have any consideration for what his son wanted. This is a reality for many teenagers with Asian parents. stereotypically Asian parents want you to just focus on money and nothing else. But this film shows that this cycle can be broken, and people can learn.

Overall, this film is a great watch, it includes a heartfelt story and is also educational to a certain extent as it teaches people about life in Luton in the 1980s and how certain groups felt about the Asian community at the time.

If there had to be a criticism, then maybe some parts of the film were a bit cringeworthy for myself. Examples of this for are the scenes where everyone is singing along to Bruce Springsteen in Luton market as if it is a type of musical. Which I understand plays a big part in the movie, but I did not like it personally. But overall, it is a great film as it touches on many issues that we still face today.

Would highly recommend

Amir Najib is a student journalist from Coventry University, who is now interning at Irish Tech News. His interests are in tech, sports and music.

Gurinder Chadha, OBE is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. She has directed many films for example Bend It Like Beckham in 2002 and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging in 2008.