BRICK LANE
finds
Director Sarah Gavron tells Kaleem Aftab why the controversy surrounding her adaptation of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane misses the point
he Brick Lane depicted in .\lonica .-\li's
pri/e-winning 2003 no\'el and adapted
for the hig screen h} Sarah (ia\ron is prett} much gone. While the street remains the spiritual hotne ol‘ the huge Bengali communit} in London it's now heen o\errun h_\ wine hats and coffee shops. then the curr} houses will ol'l‘er you a decal' Vanilla latte instead M a good old- l‘ashioned Indian heer. 'l‘he Sunda) market has hecome the hotspot l'or hipsters to ha} and sell their wares. But. for one da}. the clock rewound a few _\eat's when the lilm crew l'or Brick Lune came to shoot and a group ol‘ predominantl} Asian protestors. upset with the depiction ot~ what they saw as ‘simple and uneducated' Bangladeshis in the mud. arri\ ed on the scene with placards denouncing the production and disrupted lilming.
The film crew placidl} stopped tor the da} to amid confrontation. hut from that moment on Brick lune the movie would l‘ores er he tainted with the word ‘contrmersial‘. Then Prince (‘harles tried to save the da) with the armouncement that Brick lune had heen chosen for this year’s Royal l’ert'ormance. But the CUHU'UVL‘I‘S)' rel‘used to go awas and the new s that
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‘WE AIMED TO CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF THE BOOK AND CREATE COMPLEX CHARACTERS'
the ls’o_\a| (iala was Inc\plical\l_\ cancelled seemed somehow ine\ nahle.
(iasron. a lormer student ol tilm at l'dinhurgh ('ollege ol .\rt. took on the challenge ol directing lint/t lain. lll which an unhapp) Bangladeshi woman linds comtort in work and lose in the midst ol anti \lttslim sentiments in post “it l.ondon. (ia\ron has a cold when we meet in a swank} l.ondon hotel. and. o\ er a cup ol herhal tea. the lilmmaker insists that the media o\erpla_\ed the commumt} hacklash
She sa_\s. ‘l)uring the lilming what was interesting was that we had so much support l'rom people who were memhers ol the Bengali community But there was this minorit} who were talking ahout scenes that acttialh weren't in the lilm or the hook. 'l'hat speculation wasn't \er} helpl'ul illltl thL‘ll' \oices got heard hecause the} had an implicitl} \ iolent agenda.’ :\s tor the cancellation ol‘ the Rtwal (iala. (lax ron admits to ha\ ing heen disappointed.
Brit-A lame is ahout \a/neen t'l‘annishtha ('hatterjeel. a Bangladeshi mother=olrtwo who comes to realise that she doesn't tune to meekl} lollow all the whims ol the man she was arranged to tnarr}. She has an atl'air with local communit} acti\ ist Karim t('hristopher SitnPsonl. It isn't the al'l'air hut the tact that her hushand (‘hana is poi‘tt‘;i_\ed as heing so haekward that anno} ed the protestors. To her credit (ia\ron has made this ligure tar more s_\mpathetic land. as a result. humanl than he is in the muck Now it‘s the director‘s turn to protest as she argues that wasn‘t her intention.
'What we aimed to do was capture the essence ol' the hook and create eomples characters] she s;i_\s. 'I thought ('hana in the hook was a reall) heatttitull} descrihed character. He was not the aw l'ul stereot)pc of this e\trcme w ile-heater. He is this comples compassionate man and I think that is what I wanted to hring onto the screen. Perhaps he has hecome more compassionate hecause. in the process ol' hringing things to the screen. things hecome more accentuated.‘
.-\s it turns out. the initial reaction to earl} screenings among the Bengali colttnlttllit} has heen largel} positl\e. yet one critic. l'rom The Daily 'Ii'lt'gm/r/I. complained that the movie has made the characters toothless. it seems the director is damned when she does and damned when she doesn‘t.
(iau'on. whose hackground is in documentar} lilmmaking. lirst read the [loud on the tuhe in London and was asked soon alter ill she'd he interested in adapting it lot" lilm. She itnmediatel} agreed. 'I tune to he passionate about amthing I emhark uponf she explains. 'lt takes such a lot out ol‘ )ou and it is such a long iottt‘ne}. It took three )c';ii‘s ol' m_\ lil‘e. There was a lot in the hook that al'l’ected me: the portrait ol the tamil). the hue stor). the political context. and the centre that drew me in was the journe) ol .\'a/.neen. her linding her VolL‘C and her place in the world and putting that on screen.' Her passion shows on screen and this is one of those rare occasions where the movie is hetter than the hook.
General release from Fri 16 Nov.