‘Blinded By The Light’ is a like a blue collar version of ‘Yesterday’, the summer sleeper hit about the power of music. While the latter was an imaginative tribute to the Beatles, ‘Blinded By The Light’ is all about the music of Bruce Springsteen, and how it elevates both the spirits of gifting of a Pakistani lad in 1980’s England. It’s not near as sexy, nor as flashy, but it works really, really hard to be endearing – and for a movie centered on the Boss, would you expect anything LESS than hard work?
Adopted from a non-fictional memoir, ‘Blinded By The Light’ is both scripted and directed by Gurinder Chadha, who flexed similar quirky charm with 2002’s international smash, ‘Bend It Like Beckham’. Here, we follow the journey of Javed Kahn, an aspiring poet and songwriter who develops an infatuation with American rocker Bruce Springsteen. Dressing head to toe in denim and plaid like his hero, Javed connects with Bruce’s tunes of working-class struggle, as he’s wrestling with some pretty major issues in his own hometown – primarily getting hassled by racist bullies, engaging in a never-ending war of dreams versus principles with his rigid father, and trying to work up the nerve to ask out the activist cutie in his English class.
On the surface, it’s a feel-good film…but pull back the curtain of ‘Light’, and you’ll find some pretty dark stuff, i.e. a violent march by white supremacists. It’s a powerful moment, to be sure…but if we’re shooting for relatively safe family fare, it’s a bit of an ill fit. (Not that another scene of much of the cast breaking into a rendition of ‘Born To Run’ slid in to the proceedings effortlessly, but hey…)
If you like the Boss, you’ll definitely appreciate what’s going on here. The big question; will the film play as well for NON Springsteen fans? I think so, but that particular crowd might find it more cloying than earnest. If you’re a casual fan of Bruce, how do you know which group you fit into? If you saw the title of the movie and your first thought was, “Oh boy, a film about Manfred Mann…”, i.e. you had no idea the tune was written and originally recorded by you-know-who…….well, then I think you just answered your own question.
