Mississippi Masala
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Movie Reviews of Mississippi Masala
Movie Review: A different take on interracial love.
Summary: 5 Stars
Mississippi Masala is indeed a different kind of interracial love story. It involves a black man (Denzel Washington) and an East Indian woman from Uganda(Sarita Choudhury). When Mina is a little girl, she and her family, along with the Indian population as a whole, are expelled from their homeland with little more than the clothes on their backs when Idi Amin comes into power. Eventually they settle in Greenwood Mississippi and by this time, Mina is a grown woman. Her father Jay (Roshan Seth), who was a well off lawyer in Uganda, spends most of his time suing the Ugandan government in hopes of getting his property back and going home. Her mother runs a local liquor store. They live in a motel owned by their cousin and Mina helps earn their stay by cleaning bathrooms there. Demetrius owns a successful carpet cleaning business in Greenwood and lives with his father (Joe Seneca) who buses tables at a local restaurant and his little brother (Tico Wells) who simply hangs out doing nothing all day. He meets Mina when she slams a car into the back of his van and initially gives her attention only to make his ex girlfriend jealous but finds himself falling in love with her. When their families find out, it all hits the fan. Some of the reaction is funny but much of it is very sad as well.
Just as compelling as the love story itself is the relationship between the Indian and Black communities and Jay's own emotional struggles. The Indians are looked down on by the local whites yet they themsleves look down on the local blacks. The Indian hotel owner tells Demetrius and his partner that people of color should unite yet forgets his own words when he finds out about Demetrius' relationship with Mina. Demetius is already resented by some of his own people because of his success and his relationship with a non-black woman only makes matters worse. Mina's family, already marginalized because of their fall from prosperity and their dark complexions (yes it's an issue among Indians too), are marginalized even more. Both Demetrius, who thought that Mississippi was changing for the better, and Mina, who always identified with black culture and never had any apparent racial hangups, are unpleasantly surprised by it all. Before I spoil anything, let me just say that most should find the ending positive and satisfying.
Movie Review: "Home is Where the Heart is"
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a fan of Mira Nair's "Mississippi Masala" since seeing it's original theatrical release in the early '90s. I was very dissapointed, when for a good period of time it was out of print.Now to my great surprise and delight the movie has been released to DVD."Mississippi Masala" is a wonderful comedy/drama about coming of age, race relations and ruminations of home and the heart.Director, Mira Nair has deftly told the story of a transplanted Indian family, who has uneasily settled in rural Mississippi.We learn (in a series of backflashes) how the family had to sadly leave their native country of Uganda, under a mass expulsion ordered by dictator,General Idi Amin in the early '70s. The family's father, Jaye (well played by Roshan Seth) loses everything including his property, his best friend, his country and his self respect.Fast forward eighteen years later. The immigrant family's daughter, Mina (Sarita Choudury) has grown into a beautiful young women and is the 'Masala' of the film's title (a hot & spicey mixture of exotic ingrediants). Through a series of comical incidents she meets and falls in love with an pesonable, African American man named Demitrious (Denzel Washington), who runs his own carpet cleaning business.Sparks fly as the area's two minority communities (African-American & Indian) react with both hostlity and humor to the lover's interacial romance.This is a story about discovering one's place in life. About finding out where you belong and being with the one you love. Eventually the main characters learn the lesson that "home is where the heart is".This is wonderful moving film that touches both the heart and the funnybone.I highly recommend it!Movie Review: The best American movie on Interracial Romance period
Summary: 5 Stars
After writing my review on 'Something New, people are going to assume I hate IR unions when that simply is not the case, I like a great film that explores more than just the surface on IR unions. The producers, female actors, and director of "Something New" were so arrogant promting the movie like their movie was going to change the paradigm of IR amongst Black Women. Well 15 years ago I saw and happen to own the best American and most realistic movie on the subject of mixed relationships that explores the race, class, regional, multicultural issues of romance it is "Mississippi Masala".
Mira Nair (who has directed other classics) shot this work of art in 1992 starring Denzel Washington, Joe Senca, Charles S. Dutton, Mohan Agashe, and Sarita Choudhury in this multi- layered film that explores all those themes in a realistic setting. The film is stunning in the price each charcter plays in their pursuit of some sort of redemption in their lives. Race in the south is at the forefront, but so is class, ethnic and racial politics and ultimately love in a film that at least explores other types of mixed relationships that I think is the key to finding at least racial co-existence in this country. Nair has created a work of art that will open your heart long after the film ends.
This is the film that the makers of 'Something New' could not have made because of their arrogance.
Movie Review: Entertaining and thoughtful
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a wonderfully acted, directed and scripted parable on the power of love to overcome racial and ethnic divisions, filled with humor, insight, pathos and inspiration, and which completely avoids the trap of becoming preachy. One of its particularly interesting insights for me was its take on the polarizing nature of black-white racial divisions in this country. This is shown not only by the negative reaction of the local Indian community in this small Mississippi town to the romance of one of its women by a black man, but, even more revealingly, by the response of the local whites, which results in the bank calling in its loan on Denzel Washington's carpet cleaning business, along with the loss of his white clientele. Even though the relationship in question is between two dark skinned people, the whites react to this as though the Indian woman is white. In otherwords, for the whites, if you are not black you are white, or, at least, the equivalent of white.
I strongly recommend this movie.
Movie Review: DVD was worth the wait!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have waited years for the release of this DVD. It does not have a lot of extras but the picture is clear and the movie just as wonderful as I remember. Other reviewers have given opinions about the movie. I just want to point out that this is one of only two romantic films with Denzel Washington and this is the only one where he plays someone who is both sexy and monogomus.
The movie tells the story of Mina's father played by Roshan Seth and his struggle with what happend when their family was expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin. The romance between Mina and Dimitrius is a terrific plot device that forces Mina's father to examine his views of the past. He has to resolve his feelings for his best friend, Okelo, who he felt betrayed him because of race in order to get on with his life.
The resoloution of the love story is not given as much time as I would like but you do know the outcome.
Buy this movie it is well worth it!