Praying with Anger

M Night Shyamalan's debut film sees him return to India to find his ancestry. This isn't a bad movie and although budget constraints are evident, they should be forgiven seeing as this is his very first attempt. Dev Raman (M. Night Shyamalan) is an American-born Indian sent to India as part of a college student exchange program. Dev is reluctant to go, but his mother, to whom he is devoted, insists. So, friendless and alone, halfway across the world, Dev experiences culture shock -- he may look like an Indian, but it is quickly and vividly demonstrated that looks are of little consequence, and it will take more than a glib tongue and an unwillingness to back down to earn acceptance and respect. In the midst of his initial travails, Dev's sole friend is Sunjay (Mike Muthu), his guide and mentor, upon whose advice he relies. Praying with Anger relies on too much stock material for it to warrant anything more than a passing interest.

'Praying with Anger' is rarely seen semi-autobiographical debut by director M. Night Shyamalan. There is a rumor that after the success of 'The Sixth Sense' Shyamalan bought all the VHS copies of the film because he was embarrassed by it. Although the film didn't get exactly a wide release first place. 'Praying with Anger' has primarily shown at film festivals, and some second hand VHSs still circle around and occasionally it pops up in the internet.

This is not a movie to get out of your pants for. Maybe if you're a hardcore Shyamalan fan. I was personally clad to see the film because I'm interested in famous and renown directors' first works.

The story and pacing is uneven. It takes some time to build up any interest to continue watching it. Most scenes don't have the impact that filmmaker obviously wanted to have and they simply fall flat and cliché ridden. Mixed with occasional humor and little hints with supernatural and totally out of place awkwardly directed scenes (hey, let's just play some football with these kids over there). The acting is nothing special - not a single ultimately bad or masterfully good performance to point out. If becoming film director wouldn't have worked out for M. Night he could always play some Indian comic relief side character in some silly sitcom.

'Praying with Anger' is not very strong film, quite forgettable actually, and it's not strong even for debut, but it showed then that Shyamalan has some talent to become capable

M. Night's debut film is hard to judge properly with such a low quality version of it on the Internet. It's essentially a student film and a pretty uninteresting one honestly. I'll give M. Night some credit on playing the main character and having a passable music score in it, but that's really all the good things going for this film.

The performances are amateur and it doesn't leave much of an impression by the end. It's kind of cool there were little glimpses of dialogue and ideas in this film that foreshadow what movies M. Night would make in the near future. Oh well, you gotta start somewhere in the industry I guess, so can't be too harsh on this debut.

3/10.

This is it, where it all started. M. Night Shyamalan's first movie "Praying With Anger" is a film about an Indian-American boy going to India, the place where his parents were born, so he can learn of his families way of life. I'll start out with saying that the concept is very intriguing. The plot is well written enough, but not perfect. Some characters are a bit inconsistent with there goals and behavior. The acting is decent, but again not perfect. Shyamalan himself is the strongest actor in the film, everyone else is okay. I'm not knocking the actors though, I know it's a hard job. And finally the filmmaking. It's a bit amateurish, but than again, Shyamalan was an amateur when he made this. It's his first film after all, it's good for what he had. If he made the movie now, I guarantee it would have better acting, cinematography, writing, and editing. In general, the movie is an impressive feat. Especially for his first movie, being self funded and all, I'd give it about a 6.6 out of 10.

I saw this film on Indian television many years ago and remembered it distinctly, one for its storyline (which as a South Asian American I could relate to), and second for the quite interesting name of the director. Little did I know way back then that I was watching the work of one of current cinema's more gifted filmmakers.

I found a rare VHS of the film and recently viewed it, and much could be see of the distinctive M. Night Shyamalan style. There is no twist ending to this film, but there is a silent and slow development to the story which pays dividends to the viewer. One could see that Night was not in complete control of his powers, but as a debut film, "Praying" is a highly accomplished piece of work, and was a precursor to a wonderful talent indeed.

The cinematography of DP Madhu Ambat is excellent, the acting is even, and the music a bit synth-cheesy, but what truly stands out is the emotional depth of the film. In hindsight there may have been too many issues tackled within the film (arranged marriages, caste, religion, poverty, ragging, elderly respect, diaspora, and family) but nonetheless all are addressed truthfully and honestly.

If you can locate this film, it is worth a watch. You'll see the beginnings and origins of Shyamalan's signature style, and a wonderful little piece of independent low-budget film-making.