THE WILD AND THE INNOCENT
Tale of 80s teen rebellion soundtracked by the songs of the Boss is a sweet love letter to finding your own voice through pop culture
THIS delightfully entertaining and thoroughly British crowdpleasing coming-of-age comedy drama is soundtracked to the gloriously epic songs of US rock legend Bruce Springsteen. It’s based on the memoirs of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, which chart his time attending Luton Sixth Form College in 1987, fictionalised here as Javed, and played with infectious and endearing enthusiasm by Viveik Kalra.
And for those of us old enough to have been a small town teen at the time, this is a moving, nostalgic trip.
His ambition to be a writer brings him into conflict with his authoritarian, traditionally minded and, in his own way, heroic father, a wonderfully proud and pained performance by Kulvinder Ghir.
And in order to marry the differing demands of his Pakistani heritage and British upbringing, Javed finds solace and inspiration in the tunes of Springsteen.
He’s cajoled by Hayley Atwell’s English teacher, finds sweet cross-cultural romance with Nell Williams’ political activist, and forms a winning friendship with Aaron Phagura’s sikh student.
Springsteen probably didn’t have the northbound M1 in mind when he wrote timeless rock classic Born To Run, but it’s one of many of his great tracks which fuel the film as it thunders across boundaries of race, gender and geography. These are topics director Gurinder Chadha has tackled before in films such as Bend It Like Beckham, and she’s good at awkward family dynamics, maintaining sympathy and understanding for each of Javed’s family.
The Thatcher era of racism, redundancy and the rise of nationalism are confronted, which the filmmakers use to pass scathing comment on our similarly turbulent political times. It’s this spiky approach which elevates this above the schmaltz of Richard Curtis’s recent Beatles cinematic love-in, Yesterday.
And another huge bonus – there’s no Ed Sheeran.