The Infidel

Categories: films, cafes, art

Tags: Newcastle, Faith, Cinema, Films

Date: 28 April 2010 11:51:54

Yesterday, TractorGirl and I went to the Tyneside Cinema (apparently the best preserved newsreel cinema in the country) to see director David Baddiel's latest film, 'The Infidel'.

It's about a Muslim man, Mahmud Nasir, who discovers when emptying his dead mother's house that he was adopted and that by birth he is Jewish and called Solly Shimshillewitz. At the same time, his son wants to marry a girl whose new stepfather is a Muslim extremist and expects the family to live up to his definition of a 'good Muslim'. In trying to get to see his dying father, Mahmud gets lessons on 'Jewishness' from a cabbie, Lenny Goldberg, but finds himself caught in an interesting cultural muddle.

I really enjoyed the film; it's very funny and handles difficult issues by taking the mickey thoroughly. I would recommend it. Even the Guardian liked it!

The Infidel scores 8.5/10.

While we were there, we saw  a trailer for Russell Crowe's latest film, 'Robin Hood'. It looks like another CGI spectacular, with dialogue that the knobs who comment on things like The Review Showwould love. Think I'll give it a miss, especially as Crowe reminds me too much of Jon Culshaw from Dead Ringers and I can't help wonder if the film is a spoof as a result!

We also saw a trailer for 'Four Lions', about a group of inept terrorists, which looked very funny and we will be going to see.  Afterwards, we discovered that there are various nice cafes at the cinema, which makes it ideal for an arty day out, maybe along with a trip to the Baltic. All in all, a good day :) I'll leave you with a trailer for 'The Infidel':

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5etNeaNlM8M[/youtube]: