Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
Starring: Viveik Kalra, Nell Williams, Hayley Atwell, Kulvinder Ghir, Dean-Charles Chapman, Aaron Phagura, Rob Brydon
Blinded by the Light isn't a Bruce Springsteen biopic, but instead a story of how a Pakistani/British teenager discovers his music in 1987 England amidst the nation's (and the teen's) turbulence. Until he is introduced to The Boss, Javed (Kalra-in a winning performance) is an awkward teen who yearns to be a writer. He has a domineering father, few friends, and no girlfriend prospects in sight. His best friend Matt (Chapman) has a girl, makes out with her incessantly, and promises to hook Javed up with one of his girlfriend's friends. It doesn't happen, and another school friend Roops (Phagura) senses the pain in Javed's soul and suggests listening to Born in the USA and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Javed listens one night in his bedroom, and Bruce's music and lyrics resonate so greatly they transform him. The words write themselves on the wall and circle around his head as if they are living beings. Javed feels Bruce gets him like no one, not even his family, ever did before.
Based on a true story, Blinded by the Light documents how Bruce Springsteen's music gave Javed the courage to declare himself as a writer, stand up to his father who tries to dissuade him from writing and pursuing girls, and make plans which didn't involve staying in his small London suburban apartment complex. 1987 England was one of upheaval and uncertainty. The nation's unemployment rate was through the roof, and white supremacist groups were rearing their ugly heads in local marches and terrorizing the town's Pakistani population. Margaret Thatcher was running for re-election and her popularity was waning considerably. Small wonder. The tenuous economic situation hits home for Javed as his mother works nonstop from home as a seamstress and his father is laid off from the local auto plant, further fueling his anger towards the world.
Blinded by the Light sets the stage for a coming-of-age comedy in which a lonely teenager who feels out of place in his adopted country is stirred into action by taking Bruce Springsteen's music to heart. The stage is set, but the movie makes a fatal error by turning into Springsteen adulation run amok. We don't witness Javed listening to one or two Springsteen songs and engaging in rapturous delight. No, we are subjected to the same dramatic treatment over and over, and twice a Springsteen song is turned into an excuse for a musical number, as Javed and his friends run joyously around the countryside singing Born to Run. It stalls the movie in its tracks. WE GET IT. Javed loves Bruce Springsteen's music, now let's please try and move forward with the story...cliched as it might be.
Perhaps this is based on a true story, but we've seen plenty of movies about a father and teen child disconnect which threatens to tear their relationship apart. A subtler, more charming movie which deals with such an issue honestly and intelligently is one which popped into my mind more than once while watching Blinded by the Light: Breaking Away (1979). The father in that terrific movie wasn't a jerk like Javed's father Malik (Ghir), but was at a loss to understand why his son loves bicycling so much he adopted an Italian accent when the Italian racing team came to town. There is a pivotal scene in which father and son finally learn to understand the other, and it is immensely powerful. No such scene exists in this film. The father is a jerk until he isn't anymore, and after a cold war between father and son is suddenly over without any explanation. Whatever conversion Malik had seemed to occur off screen.
Blinded by the Light begins as a charming movie, but bogs itself down with the Boss love. Springsteen does not appear in the film except in archive footage and a television documentary, but his spirit is present in his music, which will endure long after he is gone. Blinded by the Light trudges to its inescapable, inexorable conclusion and we learn Javed went on to see Springsteen 150 times in concert. Photos taken of Javed and Springsteen populate the screen in the epilogue, and it appears the happy ending of Blinded by the Light is that Javed essentially turned into a Deadhead.
And he seemed to fit in a journalism career and write a book in between going to Springsteen shows.
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