Welcome to another edition of Adam's Movie Reviews!! **queue in intro music**
Tonight's movie is the romantic drama Mississippi Masala (1991) which starts off with a young family with Indian heritage are forced out of Uganda, Africa in the early 70's. This was due to the dictatorship of Idi Amin who literally kicked out all the Asians from Africa - mind you these Asians (mostly Indians) were relocated into Africa to slave away with building the train rail ways. So fast forward to the 90s's and the young little girl in that family that fled to Mississippi, USA is now a young Indian motel-worker Mina who literally crashes into an African-American carpet cleaner Demetrius played by my man Denzel Washington...the reason why I have outlined the background of these two characters who fall for each other is due to the fact that they are labelled in that way throughout the entire movie. The director is smart enough to build up a cultural dislocation straight away which has become a tradition of both the families which the main characters are a part of.
So, two lovers fall for each - interracial love...which again is played cleverly by the filmmakers where masala is literally a mixture of coloured spices which is a reflection on the characters in this movie - they are individuals who make up separate worlds in society which is represented through Mina and Demetrius. Their romance leads to many topics including racial prejudice and colour-blind between different group of society who do not like change and differences within their own ties of tradition. The characters' love is soon revealed which instantly spirals into losing the respect of their communities and families. The film's story was tackled in a smart manner. The way the director used music, language and culture whether channelled through family events or on a street corner stereotypes each background's similarity - they have no curiosity about groups outside their own social circles. Another similarity that is shown in the movie is both main groups were displaced from their ancestral lands yet even though these groups were victims of racial prejudice each group regardless of background tend to follow this path by looking down on each other based on the colour of skin. The director does very well to demonstrate this throughout the film in a realistic way without losing focus on the romance between the two main characters.
My only criticism is this film has too many things going on including whether the story is about leaving Uganda and returning to Uganda, the story of living in the south of America, a love story, a father's responsibility to his only daughter and the failings of groups from different backgrounds. Due to this it misses out what the movie is really about - different spices that need to blend together. Another flaw is the way the beginning was shot and the flashbacks...it would have been good if this was clear at the beginning. It is still however funny and enthralling to watch and it captivate what is to happen to the doomed romance between Mina and Demetrius. Great performances by all and a great chemistry match between Denzel and his counterpart Sarita Choudhury who plays Mina. This film is a hidden gem that is definitely overlooked and is worth to be watched. Overall 7.2/10.
Tonight's movie is the romantic drama Mississippi Masala (1991) which starts off with a young family with Indian heritage are forced out of Uganda, Africa in the early 70's. This was due to the dictatorship of Idi Amin who literally kicked out all the Asians from Africa - mind you these Asians (mostly Indians) were relocated into Africa to slave away with building the train rail ways. So fast forward to the 90s's and the young little girl in that family that fled to Mississippi, USA is now a young Indian motel-worker Mina who literally crashes into an African-American carpet cleaner Demetrius played by my man Denzel Washington...the reason why I have outlined the background of these two characters who fall for each other is due to the fact that they are labelled in that way throughout the entire movie. The director is smart enough to build up a cultural dislocation straight away which has become a tradition of both the families which the main characters are a part of.
So, two lovers fall for each - interracial love...which again is played cleverly by the filmmakers where masala is literally a mixture of coloured spices which is a reflection on the characters in this movie - they are individuals who make up separate worlds in society which is represented through Mina and Demetrius. Their romance leads to many topics including racial prejudice and colour-blind between different group of society who do not like change and differences within their own ties of tradition. The characters' love is soon revealed which instantly spirals into losing the respect of their communities and families. The film's story was tackled in a smart manner. The way the director used music, language and culture whether channelled through family events or on a street corner stereotypes each background's similarity - they have no curiosity about groups outside their own social circles. Another similarity that is shown in the movie is both main groups were displaced from their ancestral lands yet even though these groups were victims of racial prejudice each group regardless of background tend to follow this path by looking down on each other based on the colour of skin. The director does very well to demonstrate this throughout the film in a realistic way without losing focus on the romance between the two main characters.
My only criticism is this film has too many things going on including whether the story is about leaving Uganda and returning to Uganda, the story of living in the south of America, a love story, a father's responsibility to his only daughter and the failings of groups from different backgrounds. Due to this it misses out what the movie is really about - different spices that need to blend together. Another flaw is the way the beginning was shot and the flashbacks...it would have been good if this was clear at the beginning. It is still however funny and enthralling to watch and it captivate what is to happen to the doomed romance between Mina and Demetrius. Great performances by all and a great chemistry match between Denzel and his counterpart Sarita Choudhury who plays Mina. This film is a hidden gem that is definitely overlooked and is worth to be watched. Overall 7.2/10.