The Infidel

When a movie attempts a culture clash, the results can oftentimes be horrible to watch. However sometimes the filmmakers can get it spot on and in The Infidel they've achieved the latter.

Omid Djalili plays a lapsed Muslim, a guy who likes a beer and his football, much to the exasperation of his son who is due to marry a woman who is the niece of a radical Islamic preacher. Under pressure from his son he starts to be more Muslim and researches his background to learn a little more about his faith. However, to his horror he discovers that he had been born to Jewish parents and had been given up for adoption whereupon he was taken in by Muslim parents. HE is stunned by this and even more surprised to discover his birth father is still alive. He searches him out but his fathers Rabbi tells him he must learn more about Judaism before he can see his dad.

As you might expect, there are moments of self doubt but our lead finds himself and discovers that he is really comfortable with life. It's a kind of schmaltzy message but thankfully there are some real belly laughs along the way. Omid Djalili is excellent but he has always been a favorite of mine and here he is complimented excellently by the rest of the cast, including another excellent actor, the great Richard Schiff who plays a Jewish version of Djalili's character in that he is a Jewish man in conflict with life and his faith. There are moments of spot on observation of Jewish and Muslim life and the overriding message is one of tolerance, that the two faiths are far more alike than they are different.

My only criticism of this movie is that the way the subject of Israel is dealt with is a little trite and Matt Lucas features in this movie and I can't really abide him but those are are only minor trifles when compared to the rest of this movie which strikes an excellent balance between genuine conflict and pathos and laugh out comedy.