Friday 2 November 2007

Britz

“Hey, are you a suicide bomber? Me too! I just wasn’t very good at it.” The concluding part of Britz aired last night, note the ‘Z’ at the end cos it’s like all modern and dat init. The web or rather the bit that’s constructed with virtual fibres of irony and complaint that makes up the British Isles segment must be aflame by today.

Considering the subject matter, I think it was a pretty fair portrayal of both sides up to a point. The brother’s indoctrination into MI5 seemed plausible due to his natural ambition and sense that his country of heritage, Pakistan was still a bit backwards. The sister Nasima's story I found a little harder to mix household products and detonate it in the ‘good plot devices’ section of my brain.


It all started out well enough, young medical student, politicised against the injustices, and there are many, against what she considers to be her Muslim brothers and sisters. If I could list the keys events that turn a modern, moderate, Muslim woman into a suicide bomber, according to Britz it would go: police harassment, draconian laws, and persecution of best friend, friend suicide, radical meeting, and suicide bomber. It’s not exactly the strongest case. Regardless, both parts were exceedingly well written, no cheesy anglicises, a very well paced, topical drama.

2 comments:

DAVE BONES said...

I thought so too. Pretty good for a luvie writer's attempt to translate all this for the British sofa, particularly the last two or three minutes.

Bjam said...

My disbelief was suspended so much for last half hour that it practically atrophied. Thanks for the comment Dave. I think I saw the image in your last blog post in a dream…or maybe a nightmare.