Movie Review - The War Within

[lonewolf]

I just got back from watching The War Within. The director and lead actor invited us for a pre-screening. This movie will be released around September 30, so don't hunt for theatres right now!



The movie is about a Pakistani named Hassan who is mistaken for a terrorist in France and deported to Pakistan. He plans revenge, goes to the US and stays in the house of his best friend Sayeed. He and a few other Jihadis plan a bomb blast in Grand Central, New York. Sayeed is a moderate Pakistani who likes the US. Along the way, Sayeed's sister falls in love with Hassan, and Hassan refuses to reciprocate for various reasons including the fact that "she has been with another man". Nobody knows why Hassan is really there, but they are happy to welcome him and let him stay because Hassan and Sayeed were best friends back in Pakistan.



On the morning of the planned attack, all the members are caught except Hassan and another guy (a real life Algerian). So they regroup to launch a successful attack. In the meantime, Sayeed gets Hassan a job as a cab driver. The night before the attack, Sayeed's sister and the others find Hassan ready with his home made bombs. Hassan runs away after assaulting Sayeed. Sayeed calls the cops, and not surprisingly, the cops take poor Sayeed away on the charges of "harbouring a terrorist".



The next day Hassan carries out his task, and many people die. The dead include Sayeed's sister who has come to Grand Central looking for Hassan (probably trying to prevent him). Hassan's Jihadi partner chickens out prior to this; he removes his bomb strapped vest at the same time Hassan walks into Grand Central! All this after criticizing Hassan for getting "too comfortable with his friend's family".



There are quite a few notable scenes in here, especially the ones where ... oh, I don't want to be a spoiler, so you guys can watch the movie when its released.



The only recognisable face is Sarita Chowdhary who plays Sayeed's wife. All other actors are new. There are a few technical flaws in the movie, but the lead actor who plays Hassan (Ayad Akhtar) said thats okay when I pointed them out after the movie! Akhtar is an American of Pakistani origin and has a good future ahead of him as an actor. The director Joseph Castelo needs to pay attention to minor details if he wants to be successful.

[CtrlAltDel]

there was talk abt this movie on TV n newspapers after 7/7...i waiting for it to release here...



...and Sarita Chowdhary...isnt she the one who played the Queen in Mira Nair's Kamasutra.....?



wow!

[lonewolf]

there was talk abt this movie on TV n newspapers after 7/7...i waiting for it to release here...

...and Sarita Chowdhary...isnt she the one who played the Queen in Mira Nair's Kamasutra.....?

wow!

I know that Sarita Chowdary acted in Mississippi Masala. I thought she'd be here for the screening but the only people present were the director Castelo and lead actor Akhtar, and 5 of my (Arab) colleagues. I hope Akhtar and Castelo make modifications in their scripts - I was the only non-Arab there, and I found quite a few factual errors with the movie. I can't believe Akhtar said its ok.



Oh, and by the way, Akhtar told me that he spent a lot of time learning to speak Urdu with the (Pakistani) Punjabi accent. I thought someone had dubbed his voice whenever he spoke in Urdu.



And man, I thought they'd treat us for dinner But nope they didn't. If this movie is a hit in the US, I hope they'll treat us for dinner following the screening of the next movie (after 4 months)!

[CtrlAltDel]

how come u got invited for a special screening? u pally with the producer?

[lonewolf]

how come u got invited for a special screening? u pally with the producer?

I work with the largest Arab-American human rights organisation in the US. They aim to eliminate stereotypes and constant portrayal of Arabs in the western media as terrorists, etc.



The last movie screening we were invited to was Kingdom of Heaven, and Ridley Scott the director invited everybody. Ridley Scott directed Gladiator and a few other movies; I forgot their names.



Fortunately, I did not know about the screening of Kingdom; I watched the movie later and it was crappy.



We have our next movie screening in 4 months and its by the same guys who produced The War Within.