January 14, 2008
Man Push Cart
New York Anonymous
After five years of living in New York City, I get a certain self-satisfied joy out of watching films that take place here and being able to identify every street corner that's shown even when the only thing you can see is a Starbucks or some random pizza joint. While watching Man Push Cart it came as a bit of a shock when I couldn't quite place any of the locations.
Man Push Cart is a film that doesn't take place in the New York City that's typically splashed across film screens with the Empire State Building or Times Square always in the background. That's because the film doesn't center around the experiences of what Hollywood would like you to think is your typical New Yorker. It's not "Seinfeld" or "Sex in the City," it's the story of one of the city's millions of immigrants. A member of a group of people who are my personal heroes: street cart vendors.
As a foodie working in Midtown Manhattan, street carts are an essential part of my life. 53rd and 6th, the biryani cart on 46th, the falafal carts in the financial district, breakfast carts, smoothie carts, fruit stands, Kwik Meal, the Red Hook Ballfields, etc. etc. The varieties are endless. The diversity of the carts and the people who run them are a reflection of just how much there is to see, taste, and experience in the city. To finally see a film about a street cart vendor was a welcome experience.
The film follows a couple days in the life of Ahmad, an immigrant from Pakistan who left behind a successful career as a musician to be with his wife who is now dead. Needless to say, Ahmad has had a tough time.
Ahmad runs a small cart that serves coffee, muffins, and other breakfast foods. Running his cart is a Sisyphian task. After pushing his cart up and down the traffic filled streets of Manhattan he has very little to show for it. He doesn't even own his cart. His days begin early and once the morning rush is over, he walks the streets selling pornographic DVDs. To make matters worse, he spends so much of his day working that it's putting a strain on his relationship with his young son.
To make some extra cash on the side, Ahmad also does some work around the home of Mohammad, a Pakistani man who befriends him one morning. Mohammad's apartment is in one of those "luxury" apartment buildings that are sprouting up like weeds all over the city. Complete with doormen, they're the urban answer to cookie cutter suburban neighborhoods. The building is probably filled with young investment bankers and it stands in stark contrast to Ahmad's humble abode.
The writer and director, Ramin Bahrani, should be commended for introducing issues of class and immigration in a manner that doesn't come off as overly didactic but the introduction of a love interest that comes between Ahmad and Mohammad turns a promising film into a disappointing one.
Noemi is a Spanish immigrant who Ahmad meets one night while he's out selling DVDs. She's working at a newspaper stand as a replacement for a man who was a regular customer of Ahmad's. They hit it off and he begins visiting her after work. Soon, Ahmad, Mohammad and Noemi begin spending time together and tension between the two men builds as they vie for her attention.
In a film that felt so real at first, the introduction of Noemi hits a false note on many different levels. She's a beautiful young Spanish girl working a stand at night by herself. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm hard pressed to believe that there are any people working stands who look anything like her. Besides being young and attractive, you don't see very many Western European immigrants working stands or carts around the city.
That the greatest departure from reality was in the creation of the woman that the two immigrants are chasing after seemed especially heinous to me. The film strives to create a gritty and realistic portrayal of New York in order to draw attention to the hardships and injustices that some of the hardest working people in the city endure. By inserting a woman who is a prime example of the Western ideal of beauty into a context in which she just doesn't make sense, the film falls flat in terms of realism and social responsibility.
Despite my complaints, Man Push Cart is a film worth seeing. It strips away many aspects of the city that you expect to see in a film and instead puts a face on those that typically remain anonymous. The filmmaking is very good and the DV cinematography does a fine job of capturing the feel of the city without having to resort to landmarks. With this film Ramin Bahrani got his break and introduced himself to the world as a credible voice willing to leave the world of "Sex and the City" and venture out into the less explored yet much richer boroughs of New York.
