Dirty Pretty Things on DVD (2002)

A thriller with a message

Sly from Sheffield , 16/02/2004

A beautifully acted and very moving account of the lives of illegal workers. A savage indictment of the way we treat the people who do our dirty work. Powerful, sad but ultimately uplifting portayal of the ingenuity and strength of the human spirit. It certainly exposes the hypocracy of the editors of the Daily Mail, who's offices and homes are cleaned by the very people they castigate and rail against every day in the pages of their newspaper

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Challenges nothing.

A customer from London UK. , 27/04/2006

This is niave rubbish. Those that wrote that it is a challenging film need to get out more, Really! It is didactic and worse shows that no-one assiocated with the making of this film has a clue about the complex issues of immigration and immigrants. Those who think otherwise are quite probably middle class natives to their own country fantasising that they can empathise with the immigrant's plight because they think they will get a girl-guides badge for their endeavours.

The acting was shocking too. The only accomplishment in this film is AT's Turkish accent which was quite good considering she is French speaking in English - My wife is Turkish so I am not bad judge.

Those who want a challenging and more honest look at immigration or more specifically race relations (as that's what its really all about isn't it?) should try either Crash or Lars von Trier's Road to Manderlay.

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NAIVE AND UNCONVINCING

A customer from London, England , 06/01/2007

This is a naive film. The relationship between Okwe and Senay is very unconvincing and naive. Why did Okwe not reciprocate Senay's love practically. It seems annoying and awkward when Okwe is told that Senay is in love with him, he has to scold her for that. If this film claims to pride itself on realism, anybody in Okwe's position would have fallen in love with Senay. This makes the film far from satisfying.

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The brutal, shocking truth?

A customer from Stowmarket, England , 12/02/2004

This film is darkly interesting and shocking. Because its plot and characters are not so removed from the reality of what its like to be an illegal immigrant. The shocking reality of the people who use and take advantage of immigrants and the things the immigrants will do to get papers and money. The two lead actors were very good and watchable. People are indeed dirty pretty things.

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Stuart#30 from LEEDS , 18/03/2004

This is a gritty film from director Stephen Frears who always seems to extract remarkable performances from the players in his work. In this case Chiwetel Ejiofor the main protagonist in what is a truly modern tale of morality. There is also a surprisingly mature performance from Audrey Tautou. The subject matter is not easy to deal with. Indeed it is a million miles away from his most successful films Dangerous Liaisons and High Fidelity. An excellent intelligent script from Steven Knight gets you interested in the main characters from the start who see life as a sate of survival rather than something that can be lived. Watch out too for pieces of humour that surface surprisingly frequently, although the subject matter of black market transplant organs and abuse of illegal immigrants make you almost embarrassed to laugh. A thought provoking piece especially in the current climate of distrust of asylum seekers and the government policy that deals with it. There should be more cinema like this that you leaves you questioning both your own attitudes and questioning whether we live in an equal society.

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Silly and disappointing

Tina from east London , 22/11/2004

I was expecting far too much from this film, the reviews over-rate the exaggerated storyline. Some of the issues are clearly real but this film failed to impress on many levels. Living in an inner-city multi-cultural area of east London, I could relate to very little here at all

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