Anita and Me

One more movie of the theme: diaspora, but very differently handled. Its interesting to see how did different cultures interact. This movie is about growing up and friendship of a 12 year old Indian(east) girl: Meena with a pretty blond: Anita in England in 1970's.

Bend It Like Beckham is an entertainer but this one is a classic. The movie touches various topics: racism, growing-up, diaspora and friendship all with a nice sense of humor. The thick Black-country accent is hard to follow but going through the story from the child perspective helps us hold our attention.

I always love movies on this theme. I feel a natural curiousity to understand how different cultures are read or perceived out of their context. Other movies on Indian(east) diaspora are: Bend it like Beckham, Namesake, Mitr: The Friend, American Desi. If interested in this genre do check out Russel Petter's Stand Up Comedy( yes, you can you can find it on YouTube :) .

Anita and Me stands out for sure from the list above,
- in its slightly French-movie(cute like in Amelie) like narration,
- set up in 70's and
- it surely dealt it at a greater depth than superficial stereotype humor.