This past weekend I ended up seeing the Jodie Foster movie, The Brave One, which co-stars Naveen Andrews of Lost fame. Was the movie any good? Well no, not really, but that is what you get when you ignore the all-powerful tomato meter. The synopsis of the flick is as follows:
For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), the streets of New York are both her home and her livelihood. She shares the sounds and the stories of her beloved city with her radio audience as the host of the show “Street Walk.” At night, she goes home to the love of her life, her fiancé David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews). But everything Erica knows and loves is ripped from her on one terrible night when she and David are ambushed in a random, vicious attack that leaves David dead and Erica close to it.
Though Erica’s broken body heals, deeper wounds remain—the devastation of losing David and, even more overwhelming, a suffocating fear that haunts her every step. The city streets she had once loved to roam, even places that had been warm and familiar, now feel strange and threatening.
When the fear finally becomes too much to bear, Erica makes a fateful decision to arm herself against it. The gun in her hand becomes a tangible way to protect herself from an intangible enemy…or so she thinks. [Link]
As a couple, Foster and Andrews have zero chemistry. The one brief “sex scene” between them actually made me want to vomit (for reasons that are all too obvious if you watch the film). Still, my companion to the film noted that Andrews’ character was not exoticized in any way. The fact that he was desi was barely even acknowledged in the film. In fact, the only two references I caught included one quip about his mother worrying about the wedding invitations and a “Mughal” ring which served as an engagement ring and was pertinent to the plot of the story. So, even though the movie kind of sucked, I found it really refreshing that a desi actor was cast to play a character that was not required to “act Indian.” Unless you count the fact that he plays a doctor.
There is one other little coincidence (planned??) worthy of pointing out. The soundtrack to The Brave One features the luscious voice of Sarah McLaughlin at various points throughout the movie. She is married to a brown dude too. I’m just saying.
