Dirty Pretty things review

Dirty Pretty things Review

Dirty Pretty things is a noir thriller directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight. It has aspects of Social realism and is a hard hitting story of illegal immigrants in London and what they have to go through to survive. The main character Okwe has come to the country from Nigeria for unknown reasons, what we do know is that he has to work multiple jobs to stay afloat. It all starts going wrong once he finds a heart stuffed into a toilet and he uncovers the sinister background of the hotel he works in.

The film is powerful, the main themes being fear and love, the majority of the employees at the hotel are illegal immigrants and this is the true heart of the story as we watch Okwe and Senay constantly forced to escape from immigration officials. Okwe (Played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a well-crafted character and well portrayed by Chiwetel. The acting performances across the board are well done with no clear exceptions to this. Each character seems well thought out and real. The film is rather linear in its story telling, and there is little deviation as the goal is made quite clear; Senay wishes to move to America and be with her family and as we learn later on Okwe wants to go back to Nigeria and back to his daughter.

This is only achievable by getting passports and what they do to get this is the main story focus. The main antagonist is not clear; “Sneaky” Is the hotel manager and is the one getting the illegal body parts but the real villain is never shown. The film is relatable to an audience as it shows the everyway struggle for a common man just trying to get by and do the right thing.

Overall I think it is a solid film, the story is fulfilling as each character seemingly gets what they desire, despite the fact that Senay and Okwe are separated they both seem individually happy and having reached their final goal.