Flix!
'Blinded By The Light' is a Bruce Springsteen song from his first album "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." His music was great from the beginning but it was so different that it took awhile for it to sink in and begin provoking thoughts and eventually establish itself at the big boys table. As John Stewart said in his opening remarks at Springsteens Kennedy Center Honors induction, he believed that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby - and that baby was Bruce Springsteen.
So fast forward a few years. In London a Pakistani kid is struggling through a crazy environment of a town and country that doesn't want him, and an extremely oppressive Father. He doesn't have much luck with girls. In fact there is a scene where a friend of his tells him there will be a girl at the party that may go for him. His girlfriend chimes in 'she's not fussy.' And he's thrilled.
A different friend at school turns him on to Springsteen saying this is the guy that gets what we are going through. He takes the cassettes and puts them in his backpack and forgets about them for a few days. And then after a particularly frustrating row with his domineering father, he goes to his room notices the tapes, and puts one in his walkman. And it is an awakening.
As he continues to listen to Springsteen he becomes more and more entrenched and starts having urges to stand up for himself in the community and at home. And his passion for Springsteen and the music continues to grow.
The film uses interesting techniques such as putting the lyrics on buildings as he walks past as the music is playing through his headphones. That often happens in the film as he is in a situation and the Springsteen lyrics in his headphones fit it perfectly. This happened bordering on hokey. But not quite.
However the fact that India the second largest movie audience in the world, loves their dance numbers and there is a misguided scene that borders on a dance number but not all the way, still the hint is there. And his quoting the lyrics constantly becomes nearly over the top. But this is a true story after all.
Finally he and the kid that turned him onto Bruce got to come to America to visit Bruce's hometown. And it's the thrill of his life.
In real life, he has seen Bruce in concert over 150 times [in concert is where Bruce is the superstar], and has met Bruce on many occasions. Stay for the credits and you'll see photos from his trip to Freehold, New Jersey and pictures of him with the Boss.
This is a fun film but not a great film. It touches on hokey too often. I think it's better than Yesterday, but there won't be any Oscar nominations coming for this one. But still I think I may have to buy this one.
Grade: B
