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Love, Economics, and the Fiction of Race
by Richard (movies profile)
Nov 2, 2006
1
of
2 people found this review helpful
Mississippi Masala is an extraordinary bit of both direction and screenwriting. Mira Nair captures the power of the fiction of race in a setting where this fiction continues to shape people's lives at the most fundamental level, in the state of Mississippi, spiritual heart of the slave South, home of an abundance of the second most powerful symbol of race hatred, the Confederate battle flag (second only to the swastika). The film shows the struggle of a very independent minded woman, Mina, to transcend her environment and also shows the roots of this fierce independence (in Uganda). It contrasts Mina's independence to Demetrius' loyalty and conservatism.
The film has many examples of how racism and economics are intertwined. Demetrius is in a small-scale business partnership cleaning carpets. He depends critically upon the acceptance of the "white" dominated capitalist business community (epitomized by the restaurant owner who recommends Demetrius to the bank) and bank itself (where the viewer gets a strong sense of the way loans are determined by other than purely financial and risk variables.
My only real complaint is the editing. I think it would have been better to begin the film in Greenwood, Mississippi, rather than Kampala, Uganda, and then leave the Kampala scenes as flashbacks. This would have allowed the viewers to more quickly identify the main characters and the dynamics that will surround their relationship.
Overall, this is an excellent film, at its core a love story, but one that is rich in cultural explorations with a mix of humor and drama that shows the skills of the screenwriter and the sensitivity of the director. Bravo! |
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