![Dirty Pretty Things [DVD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41SRWWHH95L.jpg)
Product Description After a stint in Hollywood, Stephen Frear returns to his trademark genre in this gritty thriller about the lives of immigrant workers in London. Highly educated Nigerian, Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) can only find work in London as a taxi driver or a hotel concierge and shares a room with another illegal immigrant Senay (Audrey Tatou), who works as a maid in the hotel. They both live in fear of being caught and deported and when one night, whilst working on the front desk, Okay is asked to check on a broken lavatory, he discovers a grisly secret. But when he tells his boss about what he saw, Okay is blackmailed to keep quiet and finds himself and Senay being lured into the shady underworld of illegal immigration. From .co.uk With Dirty Pretty Things Stephen Frears (The Grifters) gives us a dark gritty film examining London's seedier underbelly. Oscar nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor is Okwe, a Nigerian doctor who fled to Britain after the death of his family. So far he has evaded capture by the authorities and successfully held down two jobs as a taxi driver and night porter in a downmarket hotel. But all this changes when he finds a human heart blocking a toilet in one of the rooms and discovers his manager is running an organ trafficking operation offering illegal immigrants passports for organs. The plot then follows a well-trodden thriller path as Okwe wrestles with his conscience and also the growing affections of Turkish asylum seeker Senay (Audrey Tautou). Ejiofor and Tautou give incredibly affecting performances as the disenfranchised inhabitants of the capital city and the plot is harrowing without being sensationalist. The only disappointment is the black-and-white morality that holds the film together. In a drama that sets out to challenge our perceptions and prejudices, the inappropriately Hollywood ending is a letdown that does nothing to raise this film above being a stock thriller, albeit of the more intelligent kind. --Kristen Bowditch
S**G
one of Frears's toughest films
There is a lot that is good about this: showing the plight of iilegal immigrants, the terrible conditions in which some people have to live in London, unnoticed by most other people, a tightly worked plot, much good characterisation and acting, notably from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Toutou. They are both moving, living desperately on the edge: he as a Nigerian doctor who now works as a hotel night porter and taxi driver, both full time, it seems; she as a chambermaid at the same hotel, under the unscrupulous manager. Other characters, all of non-white ethnicities, are struggling to survive, and come across vividly. The film is very well shot - full of colour, and edgy, although the plot becomes so horrifying one is less able to take any pleasure in this. For me, it became too off-putting when it became clear this was going to be about the illegal organ trade. I couldn't find much information on Wikipedia about how much of this actually goes on, but I assume that in London the scenario we are shown is rare. It is used here in a setup that has thriller and vaguely comic elements, jarring somewhat. As I say, there is a lot that is affecting in the human interactions, but the tone is not handled as well as in My Beautiful Laundrette, made by Frears 17 years before. For all its violence, the 80s vision of London doesn't lurch into the nightmare scenario presented here, and feels closer to reality, less on the verge of being a thriller.
H**D
Your tears will flow and make a sea
Oh London, built up on the rewards of conquest, slavery and empire, then upon the sheer power of its services, sprouting a skyline of pure wealth. And underneath this gloss, in the underbelly, the exploited, abused workers making it tick and run. Migrants in desperate need to live, to just survive, to send money back home. Would you do any different.Chiwetel Ejiofor is magnificent (as usual) with a presence that screams I want to rise beyond this dirt and grime. Audrey Tatou does a beautiful rendition of a desperate and sensitive soul. Their chemistry is strong, is this how two lost people find something? Whoever cast them together should do so again, please!The song "Tiny Tears make up an ocean" by Tindersticks should have been the sound-track to this desolate bitter-sweet movie of utter melancholia.
N**N
give this a miss
This thriller has more loose ends than a rasta's dreadlocks. Item, someone dies while undergoing an illegal kidney transplant and so they cut out the person's heart and shove it down the toilet where it gets stuck in the U-tube. Really, I ask you. The first rule of crime stories is they should be plausible.
B**S
Excellent
Brilliant movie about the multi-cultural pitt....erm sorry i meant paradise i live in -London. Brilliant story, fantastic acting, and well directed by the talented director. This really is brave movie-making. If you think Albert Square (Eastenders) is a fair depiction of multicultural London, then don't bother with this fine movie.Selah
F**N
Modern Classic
One of those lesser known masterpieces of modern cinema. I was drawn in and found the story and characters very moving. Masterfully directed and the music is just amazing - certainly one of my favourite soundtracks ever.
B**B
A dark and flavourful film...
This film is dark and flavourful, and deals in a degree of nastiness that is not often spoken about... human trafficking. The plotline is intentionally problematic, and that is what makes it work. Well worth a watch...
A**K
Must watch
A great story.. With mind- broadening aspects of the lives of immigrants trying to survive in the frail freedom afforded in the western culture they have escaped to.. In contrast to the oppression they escaped from...
D**R
Four Stars
Good film. With watching. Arrived on time.
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