My childhood memories are accompanied by the compositions of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I grew up surrounded by posters, t-shirts, bootlegged concert footage, biographies, and tape decks, all of the Boss. My father, one of the biggest supporters of my writing, made sure of that. An avid Bruce fan since the early 1980s, my dad took me to multiple Bruce concerts and generously lent me some first edition vinyls.
When I saw the first trailers for "Blinded By The Light" I immediately texted my dad, knowing that he would be excited by both the fact that they were making a movie about a boy's love affair with Bruce's music, and that it made me think of him. My dad was already up-to-date on news of the film, and he and I set a date soon after the release to go and watch it together.
The film, which follows the life of sixteen-year-old Javed Khan, the only son of a deeply traditional Pakistani family, begins by detailing the political tension occuring in England in 1987. Margaret Thatcher and the Tories were cracking down on workers' unions, the Cold War dragged on, and Neo Nazism was increasing in popularity, targeting Pakistanis and Indians especially hard. Khan feels trapped in Luton, a dismal suburb of London, as well as under his strict father's roof. He yearns to share his writing with the world, emphasizing his need to let his voice be heard, but also feels compelled to join the workforce and provide for his family.
The world opens up to Khan after a classmate introduces him to Bruce Springsteen. He escapes the pressure that his father places on him through Bruce's lyrics, which are strangely poignant to his own situation. Springsteen's music helps Khan build the courage to share his writing, kiss a girl, and stand up to his dad.
The film, based on the life of writer Sarfraz Manzoor, definitely showed a fan's true devotion to Springsteen, but seemed to be confused on whether or not it was a musical. There were sporadic musical numbers mixed in with the plot of the film, but did nothing to actually further the story.
Additionally, I found it, overall, to be quite cheesy. The Bruce worship became overbearing about halfway in, to the point where it became unrealistic. I wanted to stand up and shout, "Okay, we get it! You like Bruce!" While the actors were doing their best, they couldn't escape the predictable writing and dialogue.
Despite these flaws, I found the film to be visually pleasing and emotionally poignant. The soundtrack, all Springsteen songs, fit into their respective scenes beautifully. The costumes were impressively accurate but also captured the true diversity of styles and subculture in late-eighties England. The scene that made me well up was when Khan's family collides with a white supremacist demonstration on their way to the mosque. It brought tears to my eyes because issues of extremism and white supremacy are still prominent, and even becoming accepted and normalized.
I was expecting my dad to be able to see past these issues, being that he lived his teenage years much like Javed, with Bruce blaring in his earphones and the sleeves cut off of his flannels. Despite how the film should've made him nostalgic, it just made him cringe. Overall, I would advise Bruce fans, or anyone really, to pass on this film. It was a confused pseudo musical that felt the need to really jam the fact that the main character loved Bruce down our throats at every given moment.
