Britz

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Sohail (Riz Ahmed) and Nasima (Verjinder Virk) are a British born Muslim brother and sister with differing views on Islam and modern Britain. Though he thinks the war in Iraq was unjustified and isn't shy about saying exactly what he thinks about those who hate him and the people he cares about just for the colour of their skin, Sohail also despairs of the misguided teachings of extremist Muslim scholars and, most importantly, feels he owes a huge debt of gratitude to the country that took him in, gave him a home and the best chance of a decent education and the best chances in life. On the other hand, Nasima's earliest memories are 'of them smashing our windows and putting dogshit through our letterbox...I hate this country.' And in her eyes things haven't got much better over the years. This two-part drama thriller follows the different paths these two choose, as Sohail secretly joins MI5 and has to search his conscience when he's asked to spy on his close friends and people he's grown up with. Meanwhile, Nasima's best friend is arrested and held without charge on suspicion of terrorism, but is then released, only to have ridiculous bail conditions imposed on her, learn she won't get fair representation in court and for the stress of it all to drive her to commit suicide. When Nasima's father, a strict Muslim with traditionalist beliefs, learns she's been seeing a black man, he sends her off to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. Instead, she finds herself on a journey to a terrorist training camp...and becoming a suicide bomber.

With a plot taken straight from today's headlines, Britz focuses in on two characters who are so close but so far apart. It's a hot potato story about Muslims in modern Britain and their attitudes and feelings towards UK foreign policy and their own treatment back home.

Sohail is an interesting character, who shows the problems on both sides with heavy-handed authorities who make young Muslims feel alienated but also the backward, fanatical teachings, beliefs and ideals of his own people. Nasima's story, on the other hand, zooms in on all the bad points only from the Muslim point of view, with the right to free speech/protest being chipped away, a lot of heavy-handed new anti-terror laws being introduced which give the feeling of being aimed at Muslims, and the harsh attitude they are met with by the authorities. The police are painted in a bad light in both stories. I'm sure they don't play completely by the book when going after terror suspects, but some of the behaviour they display in this does seem a bit over the top and I'm sure they wouldn't get away with it in real life.

This is an ambitious and highly-charged two-parter but at over two hours each, the narrative flow in both stories gets disjointed and doesn't flow smoothly, making it feel like a bit of a slog to sit through at times. And the ending, when it eventually comes, just doesn't pay off. I couldn't buy Nasima's transformation into a woman who's mind had been completely warped and was capable of mass murder. A lot of bad stuff had happened to her, but it just didn't feel like she'd changed to that extent. Sensationalism is a big part of the problem, here, from the portrayal of the police to Nasima's end decision. Her haunting, impassioned suicide video is a neat end, though, and reminds you of a lot of the good stuff going on here.

This set it's sights very high, and there's a lot to write home about, but some crippling flaws mean it doesn't ascend to the heights it should have. ***

This was portentously long and teeth grindingly slow. This is to signify that it wants to be taken VERY seriously and to do so, make you SERIOUSLY suffer. It forced me to watch bits and pieces of Jeremy Paxman just to get to the end, which should define for you what boredom really means.

Apparently the guy who wrote it couldn't find any bomber types to research his story. So he decided to "draw on his own experiences." Must have been his experiences waiting at the bus stop. That is, back in the days before Channel 4 sent a limo to pick him up.

Suffice to say, the best way to cast light on a serious issue in British society is to come up with the most corny Hollywood plot contrivance. Reverse the obvious gender roles (Gosh, how ironic, how cutting edge) and have two members of the same family but on opposite sides end up chasing each other's tails. Brilliant!

No idea what the ending was meant to signify. The ambivalence of the Muslim in British society today? I've no idea. Trouble is, neither did the writer/director if he had been honest with himself in the first place.

I don't know what's more frightening. Islamic terrorism or the money wasted on this project.

I was greatly impressed with this - it bravely raises issues around racial harmony, integration or persecution that are little examined in contemporary British media.

The plot is suspenseful, if at times a little unbelievable.

The acting is very good, the production and direction artful without overdoing it. Scenes on location overseas very well done.

Overall a very enjoyable, and thought provoking film, which raises difficult political questions for individuals, nations and faiths to think about carefully, but the film reminds us we don't have the luxury of time to ponder these thorny issues, when so many lives hang in the balance day by day.

Well done to all the production staff, and people involved in this project. Goodstuff Channel 4.

'Britz' attempts to look at the psychology of contemporary British Muslims, a worthy subject in the age of suicide bombings. Two siblings feature in this drama, and both are viewed with sympathy: a man who joins the security service, and his sister, who become a terrorist. Unfortunately, episode one, centred on the former, is plain daft. MI5 is presented much as it is in 'Spooks': beautiful people, high tech-gadgetry, and a general air of cool. It didn't convince me one iota as real, and seemed as littered with false detail like a bad sci-fi film: for example, we see implausible network analysis graphics on the screens of the agents, whose sinister form was presumably preferred to taking any real network analysis package and putting a real network through it. It's still amazing to me that in the 21st century, films try to impress by simulating imagined computer technology with mock-ups less impressive than the real thing. This point may sound like a geekish digression, but it illustrates a more fundamental truth: that the world we see is a false one, right down to the old cliché of the supposed desk officer going out to find the terrorists by himself when his bosses won't believe him.

Episode two, his sister's story, isn't as silly, but I didn't find that it completely convinced me that the character, who seems rational and sarcastic, would actually end her own life. The suggestion is made that she acts out of anger rather than religious belief; but I am uncertain whether a sane, intelligent and secular human being can really take a decision to commit suicide; her experiences, although tough, do not justify the extreme nihilism of her position. The aim is undoubtedly to make us understand the mind of a bomber; but while Nasira is understandable , she loses plausibility as a result. Additionally, the drama in both episodes is often heavy-handed, rather clumsily making its points. But 'Britiz' is not rubbish. In places, its an interesting

and thoughtful look at certain aspects of life in Britain and Pakistan that are often unreported. But in its efforts to make a bigger statement about a greater and more terrifying mystery, this ambitious film over-reaches itself.

Finished watching Britz and it was excellent on all levels. Another example of Kosminsky portraying multi layers of a complex, deep rooted, fragile sociopolitical issue (as he did so consummately in The Promise). He shows major flaws in opposing cultures but also wills the audience to see things from more than one perspective. By telling the story of cause and effect then revenge, on an individual's level, he portrays the bigger picture brilliantly.