CNS Movie Review: The Namesake

The Namesake

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "The Namesake" (Fox Searchlight) is a superb, beautifully acted over-the-years saga of cultural assimilation. It starts in 1977 as Indian newlyweds Ashima (Tabu) and Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan) emigrate to New York after their arranged marriage.

When they first arrive, living in a cold, dreary apartment, they hardly know each other and Ashima can barely conceal her homesickness, but as time passes and they face life's challenges, a deep bond develops, a love that will be only articulated in the most understated way during a family trip to India. (The film seamlessly jumps through the years without the usual onscreen transitional devices, resulting in a fairly fast paced narrative.)

Daughter Sonia (Sahira Nair) marries and moves away, while Yale-bound Gogol (Kal Penn), named for Ashoke's favorite author, is a loving son, but like many teenagers, he gives his now comfortably well-off parents -- Ashoke is a college professor, and Ashima a librarian -- thoughtlessly short shrift, and is indifferent to their sacrifices and his rich heritage.

Gogol would rather spend more time with the shallow -- but not altogether insensitive -- blue-blooded Maxine (Jacinda Barrett). A later romance with the sophisticated, fellow Bengali Mazumdar (Zuleikha Robinson), whom he had met briefly when she was a precocious child, illustrates a different side of straddling the cultural divide.

Ashoke's graduation present to his son -- a volume of the Russian author's writings -- is unappreciated until years later, when Gogol poignantly learns the full significance of his moniker.

Watching the joys and vicissitudes that befall the Ganguli family results in a universal story to which every family -- no matter the ethnicity -- should relate fully.

Director Mira Nair's sensitive adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri's acclaimed novel (script by Sooni Taraporevala) -- a far cry from her last film, the underrated adaptation of "Vanity Fair" -- holds your interest right up to its emotionally devastating two-hankie conclusion.

The lovely Tabu is the film's warm center, conveying every subtle emotion effortlessly, and like Khan, aging most convincingly over the decades. Penn, in a serious change of pace from films like "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle," also skillfully undergoes several transformations, both physical and emotional.

Though there are a few uses of the "s" word, and some minor sexual elements, this is highly recommendable for upper teens and up -- in fact, some parents might even think it should be required viewing -- for its emphatic affirmation of family, appreciation and respect for one's parents, and embracing one's heritage with pride.

Nair's uplifting and beautiful film encapsulates all the important elements of our humanity so deftly that watching it almost offers the palpable essence of life itself.

Partially subtitled.

The film contains a few crude words, brief teenage drug use, brief sexual encounters -- a couple without nudity, one a premarital situation with rear nudity -- adultery, and fleeting images of dead and injured after a train wreck. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

END

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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