Search - Great Writers - Salman Rushdie on DVD

Rushdie, A Cosmopolitan Man of Letters

Stavros K | Nicosia, Cyprus | 02/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This documentary is definitely worth having as it is very well made and replete with interesting treatments of various aspects of Salman Rushdie's work but also personality. Rushdie's good humour and spirited interaction are well known and while a large part of the documentary is the author speaking and reading excerpts from his books, it is never boring. We also see him in conversation with various literary personalities, as well as Bono from the popular group U2. There are a number of interviews which form great highlights. Writers Paul Auster, Marina Warner and Anita Desai, Bill Buford, the literary editor of The New Yorker (he was the first to publish an excerpt from Midnight's Children), and Hanif Kureishi, author and screen writer, they all make engaging and informed comments on Rushdie and his work and offer easy access to the politics in his books. (I would really prefer English subtitles instead of dubbing over Marina Warner's French.) The footage that provides visual background to some parts of the documentary makes a surprisingly interesting composition: the sky during a flight, the urban landscape of New York City, Indian countryside and cities, people of the Indian subcontinent, and protests against The Satanic Verses. The documentary also makes certain musical choices that combined with the skyscrapers and the rides in a limousine in New York add a cosmopolitan flair that certainly exists in Rushdie himself. Overall, this is an enjoyable, engaging, and very informative documentary on one of the greatest contemporary authors."