Blinded by the Light
(M, 117 mins)
Directed by Gurinder Chadha ★★★★
Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett
It took me an embarrassingly long time to appreciate the genius and the charm of Bruce Springsteen. In 1984, I was young and stupid enough to think Born in the USA was the most epically uncool song I’d ever heard. And everything that had come before was lost to me in a fug of whatever drivel was on commercial radio, growing up in smalltown Waikato. Which is kind of a shame. Because, if Blinded by the Light is anything to go by, an early and prolonged exposure to the true glory of Bruce was just what kid-me needed.
We’re in Luton, England, 1987. Right in the unhappy heart of suburban Thatcher’s Britain; with the National Front on the march, a twitching lace curtain in every window and a Vauxhall Viva in every driveway, young Pakistani/British teenager Javed is doing it hard.
Most of his schoolmates can’t see past the colour of Javed’s skin, while his traditionalist father can’t see past his own mistrust of Western decadence to understand the world his boy is growing up in. Into Javed’s life comes a new best mate and a girl who seems to actually like him. The best mate – Roops – is bearing gifts of cassette tapes of Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the USA. The girl – Eliza – is the promise of everything beyond Javed’s suffocating home life. After which, to a soundtrack of pure New Jersey yearning, anger, pain, loss and love, young Javed has himself one of those years-thatchanged-my-life without which so many scripts and YA novels would not exist.
Blinded by the Light is based on a true story. It is also a darn good and likeable movie. We’ve been here before, of course, from Bend it Like Beckham to My Beautiful Laundrette. So we might know where Blinded by the Light is heading.
But the journey is studded with great moments, some nicely pithy lines, the stakes being raised just a little higher than we were expecting and some fantastic songs blasting from the well-curated soundtrack. The Bruce is strong in this one, naturally, with selections from Greetings From Asbury Park, Born to Run, The River and Born in the USA dominant. I didn’t hear anything from the towering, sparse and spectral Nebraska, which is hardly surprising. But the nonBruce material is also perfectly chosen, with everything from Tiffany to New Order getting a moment.
In his film debut Viveik Kalra is fine as Javed, while Rob Brydon, Hayley Atwell and Kulvinder Ghir are all strong and enjoying themselves in support.
This is the movie that the Beatles-based Yesterday should have been. A knockabout, musically literate yarn with its heart on its sleeve.
Whether you’re a fan of Bruce, or are but you just don’t know it yet, get along to Blinded by the Light. In this cynical age, feel-good movies are a tough genre to get right. Blinded by the Light is warmly recommended.