Review on Namesake

This film is very moving and perfect. It's probably the second, best film I have seen in class. First of all, I'm glad that we saw this film in class because I would have never encountered it on my own and now I highly recommend it to my friends. 

This film tackles themes including the American dream, integration, being ostracized, culture, marriage, romance and betrayal. It is more dramatic than comical. It is about how an Indian woman, Ashima, and her husband-to-be, Ashoke, travel to the U.S. and have to adjust to an entirely new environment. They settle in New York City and have their first child, who is given the  temporary name of Gogol. At this point, we are shown the differences in culture, because in  the Indian culture, the family has to decide the newborn's name seriously and the newborn can be given the name even months after being born while in American culture, the hospital needs to have a name at the time of birth. Next, we see how Gogol grows up and becomes more Americanized. Gogol grows long hair and seems to have dropped his Indian culture and identifies only with his American culture. As a boy, Gogol liked his temporary name even when he received his real one, Nikhil. However, as Gogol grew up, he rejected his temporary name and preferred Nikhil. This shows that Gogol experienced divided cultural identity. 

After college, Gogol falls in love with a stereotypical blonde girl and we are shown the differences in American and Indian tradition. According to Indian tradition, showing expressions of physical affection is not allowed. We also see that when the couple visit the girl's family, they call him Nick rather than Nikhil or Gogol. 

Later, Ashoke falls ill and dies while working away from home. Gogol is torn apart by his father's death. Years pass and after Gogol and his sister get married, Ashima decides to return to India. 

I enjoyed this film because I was able to resonate with the storyline. I, just like Ashima and Ashoke, had to get used to the American culture when I arrived in New Jersey 13 years ago. I liked how the film showed us glimpses of Indian culture and how different children who are raised here are to those that are raised in India.