Saturday Matinee Film Festival - Week 2: Dirty Pretty Things (and other movies that got me sidetracked)

Okay, so this pandemic has given me a lot of time - but also a lot of ideas - to pursue, and all of a sudden almost two months have gone by without a second film festival post. Ack! I think I'll have some fun things to share with you all soon, but right now a lot is in the works and nothing is concretely finished. But I digress. Let's have some fun and talk about the second film from my Saturday film festival, Dirty Pretty Things. 

And THIS is why I hate movie posters.

But let me just rant first. So my wonderful, smart, and deep-thinking husband had been recommending this movie to me for years because of its thought-provoking themes, and I'm gonna be honest: a major reason I hadn't watched it yet is because of the DVD cover/movie poster. I thought the film was going to be about a seductive woman wearing . . . whatever she was wearing or not wearing on the cover, for something majorly plot-related. All while wearing red lipstick, obviously. There was kind of this lingering thought of "I don't want to watch a movie with a sexy lead that all the guys love because she's so seductive." My hesitation clearly had nothing to do with the film (obviously it did with the poster - I'm not taking all the blame here) but I do think I have/had some random baggage from some random time a guy wanted me to watch a movie he really liked so he could say "why don't you dress like that?". No for real, I'm pretty sure that happened at least once. I should have known better, and thought about who was recommending this film to me. So I'm going to just tell you now - at no point in the movie does Audrey Tautou look like the cover, in fact she's supposed to look like she's not wearing makeup throughout the film. So that was a game changer. Anyway . . . 

This film is a thought experiment that challenges black and white, binary moral decision-making and the idea that there is one good (right) choice and one evil (bad) choice that we choose from when we are faced with moral dilemmas. (Another good example I recently saw of this was in a MASH episode, S1E5 "The Moose," available to watch with a Hulu subscription, if you're interested. Great episode.) But without giving too much away, the story is centered around Okwe, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is an illegal immigrant living in London and faced with a series of decisions that challenge his moral compass. A staunchly ethical man - and a medical doctor - committed to doing what's right at all times, he mostly refuses to break the law for himself or others, even if it means others will suffer (although, as a doctor, he is often pressured into smuggling medications to coworkers who are also living in London illegally). As events escalate in his life, the decisions he is forced to make will hurt someone no matter what choice he makes, including if he chooses inaction. 

And yet here he is, living in London, always one step ahead of the Immigration Service, clearly breaking the law by living there. The mystery of this dissonance in his life remain until close to the end of the film. One is left to wonder how such an upright person could come to be one of the invisibles of society, a man without a home - this certainly should make us question our own assumptions about those in dire straights or living in compromising situations.

"There's nothing so dangerous as a virtuous man."

- Guo Yi, Dirty Pretty Things

The director Stephen Frears (whose 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons I absolutely love, and his other films I need to see) shot the film like a documentary, which I only realized after I watched it. It gives the viewer a sense that one is on the street with the characters, and the movie feels very gritty and real. Senay, Audrey Tautou's character, is a young Turkish Muslim woman who, although living legally in London, is working illegally due to her visa status. Both Tautou and Ejiofor embody the exhaustion, stress, and fear one constantly has to live with in that world. Never knowing if you'll be caught or found out from one day to the next, while also shouldering the burdens and fears of your coworkers, friends, and allies who are in no better of a position. As the film continues, you start to feel the normalization of the stress, and yet it starts to become exhausting. Imagine living like that all the time - you can't just stop the movie and the stress is over, it never turns off. I've had times in my life where I could not escape a miserable situation, but in every case I knew it would eventually pass. I've never had to live a life of unending misery and fear so clearly lived by the poorest of society. There are many films that could be cited for portraying this kind of life, but this one does so with the backdrop of a major city and whose characters are fighting with huge ethical dilemmas. 

Okwe is introduced to us while he is working as a cab driver, but you soon find out that's just one of two jobs he works; at night he works the front desk at a hotel. While he is working his second job, he discovers a human heart clogging a toilet in one of the hotel rooms, and he quickly finds out that there is an illegal business going on where illegal immigrants sell their organs in return for a passport. Okwe wants to shut it down, but then he gets recruited when the boss discovers he is a doctor who could perform operations better than the hack doctor they've been using. The boss threatens him - either you perform the operation and take a kidney from a healthy woman, or you refuse and we use the hack doctor and she potentially dies. 

Senay, also is faced with maddening choices, but to find out more . . . you need to go watch the movie. (Am I short on time and ending this post early, or am I cleverly forcing you to watch the movie?)

While I may have missed a few weeks in my film festival - don't worry, I have watched a couple more from my list and those posts are coming! - I also had the opportunity to watch a couple of fantastic films in my date nights with Scott. Highly encouraging you all to take a look at these two films as well, which you can rent on your preferred streaming platform. Recommended links below:

• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Rent on Amazon) - a truly well done, feel-good film about self-discovery and what would happen if we stopped being afraid of ourselves and the world. Should have gotten more attention, and the critics kind of missed the point on this one. Don't believe the lukewarm reviews, it's fantastic.
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Watch with Hulu Subscription) - brilliant film by Taika Waititi about an outcast orphan and his adoptive father (and a masterful performance by Sam Neill). Deserves every bit of praise it got.