There is brilliant footage here of ordinary life in Pakistan, with multiple streets, shopfronts and village scenes being filmed. You can almost smell it, the sights, the sounds and the colour. This is beautifully contrasted against modern London, which is probably one of the points being made. And it's not super rich verses super poverty either, which was a nice touch. The actors all pull their weight, and the soundtrack is modern and helps a lot with the tension. A lot of trouble has been made to show how a family of immigrants are now well and truly British, whilst retaining a respect for their culture. Good intentions, great actors and brilliant sounds however cannot quite forgive this drama its script and storyline. The script tends to be peppered with the mundane and cliches, and the lead character seems to wander through her grief without much of a brain. It is made clear to her early on that her nephew, recently and shockingly discovered to have fled from uni to Lahore, may be part of a police investigation into terrorism. As it is his father's murder that sets off this train of drama, and the fact that the father is murdered whilst in Lahore and attempting to return to London, I find the behaviour of our lead to be dunderheaded to say the least. First she attempts to meet up with the nephew in secret without telling the police or accompanying authorities whilst in Lahore to identify the body of her brother. Surely she must be aware, given her brother's murder, that such an action without support could be dangerous? And why is she persuaded to identify the body and not her brother's wife? I guess it sounds intriguing, but to me it just adds the police to my list of dunderheads, as surely that request in itself should have provoked suspicion. So she gets shot (to the sound of escalating modern drums), but not by terrorists but by the police, whom were aiming for her nephew. Don't worry though, a bullet wound square to the left side of the stomach only means a day in hospital and you'll be fine to fly back to London, have family gatherings and go back to work. Then, bizarrely, the nephew rings demanding several thousand pounds, because the terrorists have stolen his passport and he needs to get back to London illegally and fast. So the aunt now borrows her husbands passwords (without telling him of course), and, to the tune of more modern drums, she enters her husband's business account and transfers the money. The next day, of course, she's in police custody. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that anyone already involved in a cloud of suspicion, intrigue and danger would be that stupid. For starters, if the terrorists have the passport, surely the money would be slightly in peril back in Lahore? And she's already suspected the police are following her, and indeed, the police (at a very high level) have certainly declared openly a huge interest and suspicion in the whole sordid business and especially the whereabouts of the nephew, so what makes her believe the transfer won't be noticed? I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. This is yet another tv show, like season one of Wolf Creek, which seems to have been rushed, and was not checked properly post-production by someone independent. If the wife had been the one asked to identify the body as well as the sister then that would have sorted one flaw. Also, there was no need for the police to shoot her. I've never heard of police shooting in such a way as to clearly endanger innocent persons. A shot fired in the air, as far as the story is concerned, would have sufficed. And as far as the story is concerned, a phonecall to Lahore could easily have served as well as a transfer of money in order for the police to become more aggressively involved. There would, of course, be a little less drama. I guess that's the point I'm making and why I'm holding this otherwise fine looking and exciting piece of British filmmaking back to a 7. For me, less drama is fine so long as the story makes sense. There is obviously a fine body of direction and cinematography at hand to make up any shortfall.
Review of Next of Kin
