Blinded by the Light – the Feel-Good Movie of the Summer
4 out of 5 Stars
By Joe
Its 1987 and the UK is suffering under hard economic times. Javed (Viveik Kaira) and his family have moved to Luton, a working-class UK town, for a better life but are subject to economic struggles and mistreatment from skinhead racists agitating for “Pakis” to go home. Javed has entered his school’s last year, hoping to get into a university. He has a domineering father who reacts to the challenges the family is facing, including the loss of his own job, by strictly controlling Javed and his sisters. All in the family have a job and must give their earnings to the father. Javed’s father (Kulvinder Ghir) tells Javed he has freedom, he can become either a doctor or a lawyer. A memorable scene occurs when Javed is dropped off at school and his father yells to him in front of other students to stay away from the girls and make a Jewish friend so that he will learn to succeed in life.
Javed is miserable, socially inept, and sits alone in his room writing poems and song lyrics shown to no one. Then Roops, a classmate and fellow Paki, introduces Javed to Bruce Springsteen’s gritty, working class music and it is an epiphany for him. To steal a line from the Boss “can’t start a fire without a spark” and the lyrics of “Dancing in the Dark” enflame Javed’s soul. Motivation found in Springsteen’s songs lead him to submit his writing to his literature instructor, find girlfriend Eliza and enjoy his first kiss, cut the sleeves off a plaid shirt to copy a Springsteen album cover, and withhold money he earns from his father. More dramatically, when 3 racist punks elbow him and Roop out of a diner booth, they successfully face off the punks, chanting lines from “Badlands.” Then Javed wins a trip to a conference in New Jersey when his instructor submits one of his essays. He defies his father and attends the session with Roop, enjoying side trips to Springsteen’s Ashbury Park home and the Stone Pony, where Bruce and the E Street Band began. Estranged from his father when he returns, Javed is picked to read an honors paper he wrote on Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light” at school graduation. Eliza tells Javed’s parents who attend. Javed explains how “Blinded” mirrors his father’s struggles to succeed and a reconciliation occurs. As the movie ends, Javed leaves for college accompanied by his father who insists they play Springsteen on the tape deck.
This is an excellent movie on so many levels, immigrants facing bigotry, first love, the inspiration provided by a good teacher, coming of age, and, particularly, someone finding their own voice motivated by music that speaks to them. For me and Scott it clearly rates 4 out of 5 stars. Viveik Kaira is great as shy, earnest Javed. Ghir is good as a gruff, opinionated father. However, the real stars in this movie are the writer, Sarfranz Manzoor, who adapted the movie from his own true story “Greetings from Bury Park,” and the director Gurinder Chadha. Chadha’s earlier movie, Bend It Like Beckham, was another very good film about immigrants in the UK, and she does even better with Blinded. Chadha is particularly effective when Javed is first listening to “Dancing in the Dark,” which she stages as a musical number with a storm in the background and the lyrics projected on the screen as he hears them. In another director’s hands, Blinded might seem sappy or cheesy. Chadha delivers an anthem of a movie that will put a smile on your face as you leave the theater. For me, this is the feel-good movie of the summer.
And that’s a wrap…