Apart from being shot like a TV drama, the story was ridiculous and all the characters apart from Okwe are flat and 1-dimensional, both in terms of script development and acting.
I live in a part of London where if I walk down the street and hear someone speak English I turn my head in surprised. I have immigrant neighbours from Africa, Turkey and Eastern Europe. None of them act like the characters in this film.
Frears very rarely creates any live atmosphere in this film. And some of the decisions in the story-making process are just plain stupid and wrong.
The mistake is that on the one hand we are given the feeling this is a serious drama dealing with very real and heartbreaking immigration issues. But on the other, the story is so ridiculous, particularly the final twist, that you can't take it seriously.
Typical of British film-making, this movie is caught between being entertaining and delivering some kind of social message. It does neither. I'm not surprised that most of the other reviews are written by Brits. It is obvious that Brits know nothing about movies. No wonder we can't make a decent one.
I live in a part of London where if I walk down the street and hear someone speak English I turn my head in surprised. I have immigrant neighbours from Africa, Turkey and Eastern Europe. None of them act like the characters in this film.
Frears very rarely creates any live atmosphere in this film. And some of the decisions in the story-making process are just plain stupid and wrong.
The mistake is that on the one hand we are given the feeling this is a serious drama dealing with very real and heartbreaking immigration issues. But on the other, the story is so ridiculous, particularly the final twist, that you can't take it seriously.
Typical of British film-making, this movie is caught between being entertaining and delivering some kind of social message. It does neither. I'm not surprised that most of the other reviews are written by Brits. It is obvious that Brits know nothing about movies. No wonder we can't make a decent one.