Film Review: Blinded by the Light

Director Gurinder Chadha who is known for the film Bend It Like Beckham, has created another feel-good film.  Blinded by Light is about a Pakistani British teenager Javed who learns how to cope with the ecstacy and heartbreak of life   through the music of Bruce Springsteen.

Set in a working class suburb of London in 1987, in the grimness of Thatcher’s Britain, the film speaks to a lot of themes that many people can understand. About being a young person who looks different from the majority of people in the country where one grows up.

And yet having an overpowering love of pop and music culture of the time. The placement front and centre of Bruce Springsteen in this film lends it a strange kind of magic. There are moments of pure joy when the film re-enacts musical fantasy sequences to the Boss’s music. It’s as though The Boss is an important character in the film with his exultant and powerful lyrics that tell stories about young people overcoming their difficult beginnings and achieving greatness, young romance, poverty, god and so many other themes.

Without ruining the plot of the story, Javed traipses through the story buoyed up by the pure joy of Springsteen’s music. It’s a real treat this film, if you either like feel-good movies, love Springsteen, grew up in the 80’s or any/all of the above.  5/5*