Movie Review: Blinded by the Light
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
During a summer dominated by Marvel characters and Disney films, two British imports managed to sneak in under the radar, both bringing the music of two of the best-loved artists of all time to the big screen – The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. Despite the success of the Beatles-inspired Yesterday at the box office, only one of these movies will be remembered for being worth the price of admission a year from now and that film will be Blinded by the Light.
Gurinder Chadha – the writer, director, and producer of Bend it Like Beckham (2002) – has another independent hit on her hands with, Blinded by the Light, a story adapted from Sarfraz Manzoor’s book Greetings from Bury Park – a tribute to Bruce Springsteen and how The Boss shaped Manzoor’s own teenage years growing up outside of London. A heartwarming story and fantasy-like scenes featuring the songs “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” demonstrate why the film received a standing ovation after its Sundance premiere and also secured one of the largest deals awarded at the film festival. Named after a song written by Springsteen, but initially made famous by Manfred Mann, Blinded by the Light, like Chadha’s Beckham, focuses on a British/Asian family and a teenager who is trying to make a life outside of traditional and cultural limits.
Javid (Viveik Kalra) is a 16-year old Pakistani boy growing up in Luton, England, during the late 1980s. A poet and writer from a young age who wants to “make a difference and change the world,” Javid struggles growing up in a conservative Pakistani family where children are expected to accept everything their parents say and where the patriarch of the family is the only one allowed to have a valid opinion. Javid is a good kid who, up to now, has always done what he was told. But, Javid is at an age where he is becoming more aware of the world around him and wants to strike out more on his own. His dream of becoming a writer goes against what his father wants for and expects of him.
Viveik Kalra, Nell Williams, and Aaron Phagura in Blinded by the Light. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Nick Wall.
Life in high school is often rough, but Javid is finding it to be much worse than his peers. With no life experiences beyond the strife with his dad, even the lyrics he writes for best friend, Matt, are limited, as Matt wants lyrics about love and topics that teens can relate to. Add the racism that Pakistanis and Muslims faced in the 1980s to Javid’s dream of wanting “to make loads of money, kiss a girl, and get out of town,” and it is easy to understand why he wants to escape Luton.
After being introduced to Springsteen’s music by a Sikh classmate of his, Roops (Aaron Phagura), Javid’s life is forever changed. Through Springsteen’s lyrics, Javid’s eyes are opened to the fact that there are others who similarly want to escape their hometowns and others who understand the struggles of the working class. With a new appreciation for Springsteen, Javid’s life changes for the better — he’s happier, he’s writing more, and, for the first time, he gets to kiss a girl.
Inspired by Springsteen, Blinded by the Light isn’t necessarily a story about him, but rather one about the power that music and words have on our lives. After all, who doesn’t remember the first concert they attended? That song that touched you like nothing ever had before? Or, perhaps that one song, forever embedded in your brain, that was playing in the background during some life-changing moment you experienced?
Blinded by the Light exemplifies that music has the ability to transcend all cultures and can unite us all. Even at the world premiere of the film, Springsteen himself remarked, “Thank you for looking after me so beautifully.” Now, if we could only do that for one another.
Mark Eaton
