Dirty Pretty Things

Directed by STEPHEN FREARS
Written by Steven Knight (Cert 15)

Reviewed by Darren Guy

This is what the British film industry is best at; gritty, hard-hitting stories about real people. This is the first movie in a long time by film director Steven Frears ('My Beautiful Laundrette' & 'Prick up your Ears').

Dirty Pretty things' is the story of a Nigerian Illegal immigrant Okwe (Ejiofor) and Turkish Asylum Seeker, Senay (Tautou from Amelie), trying to survive in the brutal underbelly of the London service industries. Okwe is a Nigerian Doctor working in the daytime as a taxi driver and in the nightime as a hotel receptionist, staying awake by eating Khat. He lives on Senayís sofa. Both are forced to live by their wits, keeping themselves inconspicuous and staying one step ahead of the seedy and sly immigration officials. The film moves into all aspects of the world of refugees, from the brutalised hotel manager, doing anything, exploiting everyone, even selling the human organs of the desperate for money; to the dignity and honesty of the many. We get a glimpse of the extreme exploitation refugees suffer and the solidarity amongst those who have commonality in their experiences.

We see how economic life in London is really kept afloat by the hard labour of refugees and asylum seekers. The story twists when Okwe investigating the comings and goings of a hotel room discovers a human heart blocking the toilet. Dirty Pretty Things is not only one of the best British films I've seen in awhile, its one of the best films – it tells me that the strength of British Cinema is its connections to European ‘reality’ cinema and not to Hollywood. If you're a fan of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh and you get another opportunity to see this film – make sure you see it. U.K. 2002 (97 mins.)