Such a Long Journey - a film review

Such a Long Journey

Reviewed by Bruce Cantwell

We sat in front of a couple of Rhodes scholars, who made chuckle-headed comments to each other until admonished by my irate companion to "zip-it".com .org. As the credits rolled, the woman mouthed "Shot entirely in India? hm," as if that were some revelation!

It's not like there's a glut of western cities that can be mistaken for Bombay.

This Canadian adaptation of Rohinton Mistry's novel tells the story of family man, bank clerk, Parsi Gustad Noble (Roshan Seth), who seems to be plagued by the old Chinese curse " May you live in interesting times."

It's 1971 and India is on the brink of war with Pakistan over Bangladesh. Noble hasn't taken down the black paper that covered his children's bedroom windows during the bombing blackouts of the previous war (nine years earlier). He excuses that the shades make it easier for his children to sleep.

His children don't return the favor. In addition to the usual trials of parenthood, Gustad and his wife Dilnavaz (Soni Razdan) face a glacial-paced bureaucracy suddenly itching to tear down the wall in front of their apartment (to widen the street) and a test of loyalty to a friend who has been out of their lives for years.

Sensitive direction by Icelandic Sturla Gunnarsson and bullseye performances elevate this slice-of-lifer. Roshan Seth subtly displays his increasingly mixed emotions as Gustad and Sam Dastor delivers a splendid comic turn as Gustad's lecherous office sidekick Dinshawji. Then there's the support of the city of Bombay itself. Few cities can match its teaming streets' uncanny capacity to fill a movie frame.

If you like this, try:

The Apu Trilogy