Cinema review: Ae Fond Kiss (From Barry And District News)

Cinema review: Ae Fond Kiss

THE original Ae Fond Kiss was a sad song written by Robert Burns to the lover he must give up because society forces them apart. This film is also a story about forbidden love.

Director Ken Loach was determined to cast the story's Pakistani family with actors of Pakistani and Glaswegian roots, believing that many actors can do a passable imitation but it's not authentic unless they have actually been born there. The net result is many of the cast have had similar family experiences to those of their characters. And Atta Yaqub had not acted before, which is astounding given his professionalism.

Casim Khan (Atta Yaqub) is a second generation Pakistani from Glasgow, living with his loving and traditional Muslim family. His father Tariq (Ahmad Riaz) runs the corner shop and his mother Shamshad Akhtar (Sadia Khan) runs the house. They have arranged a marriage for Casim with his beautiful cousin Jasmine (Sunna Mirza). Casim understands the importance of family, but he is also a modern young man who works as a DJ in Glasgow's hottest club.

One day, when Casim is collecting his sister Tahara from school, there is a spot of racial bother, resulting in a meeting between Casim and his sister's Irish teacher Roisin Murphy (Eva Birthistle) and this is where the trouble starts. Casim has never met someone so talented, beautiful and confident before and he is entranced. But his parents wouldn't accept a white girl.

Roisin is equally fascinated with Casim and it is not long before they throw caution to the wind, though quite why the intelligent Roisin agrees to duck down in the car every time they pass one of Casim's relation's shops is beyond me. Needless to say news of their affair is soon abroad in Roisin's on Roman Catholic community. With the parish priest (Gerard Kelly) putting his oar in as well, the repercussions of the scandal are far reaching.

What makes this film so compelling is its reality (it is easy to buy into the relationship between Birthistle and Yaqub, their love scenes are so believable) but I had a little difficulty imagining a Roman Catholic priest behaving in such a dictatorial way in 2004.

One of the reasons the story is so absorbing is because all the characters are coming from a different point of view and my heart ached for them all.

Tradition has a very important place in life - the trick is knowing how to adapt to the 21st century without losing the old values. In our multi-racial society this is a very interesting and poignant film. Clare Shepherd 8/10