The Infidel (2010)

An identity crisis comedy centred on Mahmud Nasir, successful business owner, and salt of the earth East End Muslim who discovers that he's adopted - and Jewish.

Director:

Josh Appignanesi

Writer:

David Baddiel

Stars:

Yigal Naor, Omid Djalili, Archie Panjabi

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yigal Naor	...	Arshad El-Masri (as Igal Naor)
Stewart Scudamore	...	Tariq
Omid Djalili	...	Mahmud Nasir
James Floyd	...	Gary Page
Archie Panjabi	...	Saamiya Nasir
Leah Fatania	...	Nabi Nasir
Stuart Antony	...	Drummer
Scott Walters	...	Delivery Guy
Mina Anwar	...	Muna
Amit Shah	...	Rashid Nasir
Soraya Radford	...	Uzma
Ravin J. Ganatra	...	Fahad (as Ravin Ganatra)
Christian Lees	...	Bar Mitzvah Twin Louis
Jonah Lees	...	Bar Mitzah Twin Sammi
Richard Schiff	...	Lenny Goldberg

Storyline

Based in a London suburb Mahmud Nasir lives with his pretty wife, Saamiya, and two children, Rashid and Nabi. His son plans to marry Uzma, the step-daughter of Egyptian-born Arshad Al-Masri, a so-called 'Hate Cleric' from Waziristan, Pakistan. Mahmud, who is not exactly a devout Muslim, he drinks alcohol, and does not pray five times, but does agree that he will appease Arshad, without whose approval the marriage cannot take place. Shortly thereafter Mahmud, while going over his recently deceased mother's documents, will find out that he was adopted, his birth parents were Jewish, and his name is actually Solly Shimshillewitz. He conceals this information from his family, and with the help of his neighbor, Leonard Goldberg, tries to understand the Jews, their religion and even locates his birth-father, who is on his death-bed in a nursing home. Mahmud does not know that Arshad has been checking into his background, has videotaped him setting fire to a Jewish cap during a protest, and ...

---

Plot Keywords:

jewish | muslim | identity crisis | parents | jew | 

---

Taglines:

Is It a Muslim? Is It a Jew? No! It's...

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 June 2010 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

Alles koscher!

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£135,448 (UK) (9 April 2010)

Gross:

£320,205 (UK) (16 April 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Slingshot Productions, Ombadsman, Salt Company International, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Baddiel:  The movie's writer can be seen on the TV show The Wright Stuff, which Mahmud watches.

---

Goofs

After Mahmud sees that Lenny has parked his taxi cab on his parking cones, he begins to walk over to Lenny's house to confront him about it. On the way, he walks past a car and the camera crew is reflected in its side.

---

Quotes

[Mahumd notices someone leave his real father's room, unaware that it is a Rabbi]
Mahmud Nasir: Dad?
[Tries to hug him]
Rabbi: Ugh! I don't think so. Firstly, you appear to be Muslim.
Mahmud Nasir: Yes, I'm sorry.
Rabbi: And secondly, I'm perhaps five years younger than you.
Mahmud Nasir: Yes, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Is Izzy Shimshillewitz in there?
Rabbi: Yes.
Mahmud Nasir: Can I go in, please?
Rabbi: Uh, I'm afraid not.
[...]

---

Connections

Featured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #13.1 (2010)

User Reviews

A Nutshell Review: The Infidel

When I watched this film I wonder if a story like this could actually come out from Singapore's film industry. After all, we're one multi-racial and multi-religious melting pot so the context of having such characters here isn't that far fetched, and to have this screened here (albeit under an M18 rating), does say something. Moreover, it's a great film speaking up against religious fanaticism, and aimed its sights well at false prophets who adopt a holier than thou attitude in hoodwinking their followers.

Mahmud Nasir (Omid Djalili) and his family are a typical moderate Muslim family, with Mahmud himself living the rather carefree life that had just overcome the death of his mom. His son Rashid (Amit Shah) announces that his intended fiancée and wife to be Uzma (Soraya Radford) will soon be getting a new stepdad, and as it turns out permission for her hand in marriage will have to be sought from none other than Arshad El Masri (Yigal Naor), a firebrand Pakistani cleric infamous for his anti-Western tirades. To Mahmud, this spells trouble to be associated with such a negative, high profile figure, but for the love of his son, have to put up his best behaviour when this international figure comes for a visit to discuss marriage. Not to mention the stress of having to portray himself as a devout Muslim man!

And to make matters worse, like the trailer already suggested at length, Mahmud discovers while clearing up his mom's place that he's adopted, and traces his lineage to be actually that of a Jew. A major identity crisis ensues because of his son's future happiness, and of course him having to rediscover and seek out the truth about his roots. With his birth father in critical health in the hospital and at the insistence of a rabbi (Matt Lucas), Mahmud has to reconnect with his Jewish roots in order to stand a whiff of a chance to talk to a man on his deathbed. Thus begins a comedy of errors arising from a clash of obvious cultures and attitudes when Mahmud has to reconcile with a one-time enemy Lenny Goldberg (Richard Schiff), in order to learn the Jewish customs and culture in double quick time.

There are plenty of jokes here that treaded the fine line of being racist, and I mean a very fine line. But as the movie put it across, it isn't racist if the one telling it is actually highlighting and poking fun at one's own race, which leaves some food for deeper thought. So we have a barrage of comical situations, some brilliantly crafted and full of wit, while others fell flat and came across as quite distastefully done, but nonetheless there were more positive rip-roaring moments than not, which I feel only the relatively more uptight folks will find additional reasons not to let loose and enjoy the film as it is.

More importantly though, beyond the laughter, is its theme of family and friendship that transcends how we look and who we are on the surface, segregated and branded by our name, or religion, or culture, which should never be the case. Sure we can have the freedom to believe in what we want, but with that also come tolerance for that of others, and a reminder never to judge others or compare just because we're different at that level, but fundamentally we belong to the same species inhabiting the same shared earth, and life will be all the more harmonious should we not try to impose bigoted thoughts on others.

While the ending may seem a little bit stretched, it did work as intended, and provided a fitting finale with moderatism triumphing over extremism. Both Omid Djalili and Richard Schiff put up fine performances and share excellent chemistry together as enemies turned friends, with their scenes together being some of the best be it focused on physical comedy, or through that rapid fire exchange of insults. Highly recommended for its relevance in our day and age for the messages it sets out to counsel.