It's a volatile dynamic that's ripe for drama and catharsis. There are plenty of scenes as powerful as that in "Blinded By the Light."Īnd many of those scenes have less to do with Springsteen's music than they have to do with Javed's strained relationship with the father who's worked his whole life in a factory to give his son a better life than he himself had any hope of living. It's a moment of epiphany that's beautifully directed and brilliantly acted by Kalra as he allows his character's reaction to those lyrics spread across his face. There's a scene of him slipping a Springsteen cassette in his Walkman for his first taste of the music that would go on to define him and immediately getting lost in "Dancing in the Dark" as Springsteen gives voice to the drudgery he knows so well ("I check my look in the mirror / I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face"). "It's like Bruce knows everything I've ever felt," Javed says. The teens finds the courage to challenge his father and follow his dreams of becoming a writer after a classmate (a suitably starry-eyed Aaron Phagura) introduces him to Springsteen, a working-class dreamer whose lyrics feel like they could just as easily have come from Javed's journal. Javed spends the film coming of age in a racially hostile environment, dealing with skinheads shouting racial slurs, while his parents work too much to barely make ends meet. Set in 1987, "Blinded By the Light" tells the story of Javed (Viveik Kalra), a British teen whose family moved from Pakistan to the working-class borough of Luton when he was a toddler. It's a struggle that's played out to brilliant dramatic effect as Chadha cues up Springsteen's "Independence Day," which couldn't feel more perfect in that moment. There's even a scene of two teenagers fending off bullies by shouting the words to a Springsteen song at them in public.Įven non-believers may get caught up in the far more universal themes at work in Gurinder Chadha's film, though, from the power of music – not just Springsteen songs – to transform lives and lift the human spirit to the struggle at the heart of many parent-child relationships as the child becomes an individual that may not be exactly what the parent had in mind. With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin kinda older, I tripped the merry-go-round with this very unpleasing Sneezing and. Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a deuce Another runner in the night.
Or running through those streets while "Born to Run" is blasting through the speakers at triumphant volumes. Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a deuce Another runner in the night.
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journalist whose memoir was adapted for the screenplay of "Blinded By the Light," to find the film both deeply moving and utterly charming.īut it couldn't hurt to be at least a casual fan, given how often the movie slips into an overt celebration of the Boss' legacy, complete with huge production numbers of characters singing along to Springsteen's music in the streets. You don't have to love Bruce Springsteen with the all-consuming passion of Sarfraz Manzoor, the U.K.