Books and culture: Being political in divisive times
Anthony English recommends…
Film
Dirty Pretty Things. Directed by Stephen Frears, this 2002 film tells the story of asylum seeker Senay (Audrey Tautou) and irregular migrant Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), both of whom illegally work in a luxurious London hotel (among other places). The inciting incident is Okwe’s discovery of a human heart in one of the rooms. From there, the story goes on to chart how the characters seek answers and navigate a London which both needs their labour and also despises them in equal measure.
The film explores how the hyper-precarity of their work environment and legal status challenges their moral integrity. This is a world of outsiderdom where fairness is considered to be just as much of a luxury as the hotel in which they work.
They exist on the fringes of a society with combative migration enforcement officers and bosses who know vulnerability means exploitation. Both are indicative of broader systematic incentives which encourage antagonism towards those dispossessed through no fault of their own.
Lest I make this sound overly depressing, the film is actually a very taut thriller with blossoming human relationships that, I am not afraid to confess, always evoke tears in the final scene.
Of course, it is not flawless – it is over-romanticised in places, Tautou’s accent wanders between countries every other sentence and some of the supporting characters verge on the stereotypical. That said, it is a thoughtful story about the value of empathy and how this fosters shared meaning in an environment hostile to the needs of those considered outsiders.
Although the film was released nine years before I even began my undergraduate degree at Durham, it has always stayed with me. Now, as I embark on post-doctoral research exploring how polarised individuals can sustain dialogue on the issue of immigration, I am given pause to consider the themes of the film once more.