WEBVTT - Mississippi Masala with Durba Mitra 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:03.920 On the Bechdel Cast, the questions asked if movies have 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.920 women and them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:12.400 or do they have individualism? It's the patriarchy, Zephyn Beast, 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.280 start changing it with the Bechdel Cast. 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.720 Yep, just driving along with my auntie with twenty five 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.720 gallons of milk in the car. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.639 Okay, And as with every every person does this in 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.240 every single movie, and it stresses me out every single time. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.880 Why don't you turn your body around one hundred and 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:36.320 eighty degrees while still fully accelerating, giving every audience member. 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:42.159 A panic attack, and then and then screak, crash, collide 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:46.720 with the hottest living man on the planet. Yeah, yes, God, 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:47.640 what a meet cute. 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.000 I was like, well done, well done everybody. I liked it. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.480 It was great. It was great. I would that would 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:55.920 be such a great way to meet somebody. 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.639 I would not call this a car accident. I had 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.840 a car are blooper. I would say I very lightly 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.640 tapped someone's rear. I was going like one mile an 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:11.280 hour top someone's rear bumper and to kiss. Really, it 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.080 was just a little smooch. Yeah, bumper to bumper, smooch. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.039 And there was a man in like the other driver 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.600 was a man, but I did not start dating him. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.600 So, yeah, someone kisses the back of my car. I'm 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.160 just like, you know what, life's hard, and it's like, 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.280 keep driving, keep driving whatever. It's fine. No, And I 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:33.759 could have been falling in love. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:34.360 I know. 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.240 Well he ruined it because he was like, let's exchange 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.680 insurance information. There's a scratch on my car. 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:39.960 Now. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.360 I was like, yeah, right, no, that was already the 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:44.720 grow up. 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.760 Anyway, we're talking about this productive conversation. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:53.360 Yes, welcome to the Bechdel Cast. My name is Caitlin Derante, my. 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:55.880 Name is Jamie Loftus, and this is our podcast where 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:00.640 we talk about your favorite movies using an intersectional feminist lens. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.240 And today we are in fact talking about a movie 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.640 we've gotten a ton of requests for over the years, 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.880 both when the show started and then a mysterious bump 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.920 again about two years ago. And who can say why, 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:18.240 but we were talking today about Mississippi Massala, which came 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.919 out in nineteen ninety one, directed by Mira and I 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:28.040 Are and written by Sunni Tara Poravalla, who I was 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.920 not as familiar with but has written almost every like 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:35.519 their duo that works together very frequently, for sure. Yeah, 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:37.480 should we just get into it. Let's get our guests 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.000 in here. I'm so excited. Oh wait, we should say 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:41.760 what the Bechdel test is. We've been doing this for 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.480 ten years. This is so embarrassing. Yeah, real quick. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.040 Bechdel test is a media metric created by a Quier 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.880 cartoonist and best friend of the show, Alison Bechdel. It 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.520 has many versions. The one that we use is do 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.200 two characters of a marginalized gender have names? Do they 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.880 speak to each other? And is there conversation about something 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.639 other than a man? And we'll talk about that later, 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:10.720 but in the meantime, our guest today is a professor 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.799 and feminist historian. It's Derbamitra Welcome. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.320 Well, I'm so glad to be here. It's so fun 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.359 to be here. Also, just like any feminist podcast, I'm 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:20.880 here for it. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:21.959 So I'm ready. 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:26.200 Yay, We're delighted to have you, truly. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.200 Yeah. We found your work via an essay you wrote 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.839 for Public Books a couple of years ago about this 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.240 film that we'll link in the description as well. But 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.720 we're curious to hear what your history with this movie is. 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.880 Well, thank you so much. I think I saw this. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.600 I saw miss Sipimsala probably for the first time when 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.520 I was eight or nine years old. I think I 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.640 saw it right when it came up out in nineteen 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.560 ninety one. And I was born in the nineteen eighties 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.320 in the American South in Shreeveport, Louisiana, which is actually 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.240 not that far from Mississippi. And I was born to 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:07.000 a single mom in Shreveport, and she had me, and 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.120 she had my older brother who was just a tiny 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:13.000 toddler at the time, and the experience of being in 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.680 Shreveport and being a person who was poor and a 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.839 South Asian immigrant in Shreveport was very, very formative for me. 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:20.360 It was very formative for my. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:25.200 Mother, who experienced a lot of struggle and really worked 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.840 hard to create a life for us. And she watched 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.560 Missus Simi Massala when it came out in the early nineties, 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:37.160 and for her it was such a profoundly moving film 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.680 that probably was the first time she felt some sense 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:44.080 of representation on the screen. And when I first watched it, 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.200 I didn't understand it. And then I watched it again, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.640 probably when I was in college, and then I watched 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.039 it again in twenty twenty one when it was about 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.920 to be part of the Criterion collection. Yeah, so it 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:02.480 was like it became this film that represented the complexity 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.720 of what it meant to be immigrant and diasporic in 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.240 America and to think about the problem of race and 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.520 racial difference not as a white Black problem, but as 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:17.360 a problem across racial difference. Yeah, when my family moved 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.760 to the American South, it was actually black communities who 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:25.320 made our existence possible, who helped my mom, support my 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:30.080 mom to gain access to public welfare, to gain access 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.240 to food, to join the church, which is what my 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.440 mom does, and I did it in that period. 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:36.640 So for me, the. 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.320 Film represents something that's extremely rare on film, which is 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.760 the intimacy of relationships in the United States that make 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.360 survival possible, but also the kind of contestations and sometimes 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.720 social violence that is also part of those relationships. And 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.520 so it really just expressed something that I feel is 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.080 not often represented in film. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:59.560 Definitely, not not to mention. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.839 The fact that the idea that there was this incredibly 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.720 gorgeous black woman, I mean a black man obviously, and 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:09.360 beautiful Basy woman Indian woman on screen like for a 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.960 South Asian American, I think for the whole generation of us. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.920 If you saw pictures of my mom and she looked 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:18.080 so much like Srita, like long hair, gorgeous. Anyway, the 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.440 moral of the story is the idea of that kind 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.359 of representation on film was just unheard of at the time. 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.320 So he was like an extraordinary experience for so many 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:26.680 of us. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.880 Yeah, absolutely, Jamie. What's your history with the movie? Had 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:31.799 you seen it before? 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:37.320 I had seen it once before, and unfortunately, I shamefully 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.080 do need to credit a man as a part of 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.680 what brought me to Missus Simmia Massala. That man's name 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:48.080 is at least Zora Mom Donnie Okay, fair, So I 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:52.400 do feel I know we saw it, that there was 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.440 all of a sudden an uptick of mir and Nair's 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.640 movies in theaters and repertory screenings when my Donnie became 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.360 such a big figure in New York and then across 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.920 the world. And so I saw a screening of Mississippi 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:11.560 Missala year or two ago, I think, at Vidiots in 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:16.600 Los Angeles, and it was really fun. I had been 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:18.800 hearing about it for years but hadn't yet seen it, 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.680 and I mean, speaking to your point, derb It, It's 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:26.960 just like it's such a singular movie and I've never 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.640 seen anything like it. I've never seen such a specific 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:35.400 cultural conversation happening in a movie before or since. And 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.960 it also features two hot people making out. I mean, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.720 it's just this movie is operating on so many levels 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.280 and does so many I like, looking through how many 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.440 notes I have for this movie, you would think that 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.840 it would be like a tough watch, but it everything 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.760 goes like it's effortless. How much this movie tackles in 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.480 centered around this love story. And Yeah, I really enjoyed 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.080 it and I'm excited to talk about it. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.880 Yeah, Caitlin, what's your history. I hadn't seen this movie before. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:17.360 I had seen mir and IRE's Monsoon Wedding. That was 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.960 my main exposure to her work. I saw that probably 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.480 fifteen or so years ago, but I hadn't seen this one, 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.640 and I was excited to watch it, and I thought 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.679 it was really well done. I you know, it's a 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:35.960 love story that I'm actually rooting for. It's commenting on 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:41.120 a lot of different things in thoughtful ways. It is 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.920 some of the hottest people you've ever seen, not that 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:49.040 that's the most important thing of the movie. But worth noting. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.640 It's worth noting, and we'll be noting it time and 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:52.120 time again. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.200 And yeah, when I was watching it for the first 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:01.800 time the other day and the movie opens on Roshan 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.560 Seth and I was like, wait a minute, I recognize him. 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.400 And I realized what I recognize him from is Indiana 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.280 Jones and The Temple of Doom, and his character is 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:15.800 far more rich in this movie, So I'm glad he 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.480 went on to have better roles. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.319 I recognized him from something even more not not that 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.480 Indiana Jones. Recognizing him from Indiana Jones is humiliating, but 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:33.560 I recognized him from Cheetah Girls three, The Cheatagirls, One World. Okay, 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:40.000 tragically so iconic. Okay, we've listed our I. 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.440 Mean I would say that, you know he I think 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.240 anyone who's seen Missipi Masala will see this that he's 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:49.760 one of the most sensitive and nuanced actors from Indian 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.000 and British Indian film like just extraordinary. I would recommend 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.960 for everybody here to see My Beautiful Launderette, which is 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:01.080 a kind of queen iconic queer British a film about 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.360 queer love and anyway, all of that is to say that, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.240 you know, he's an icon for many reasons. One because 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.720 he plays you know, defies stereotypical types that would be 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.439 given to an Indian actor of his kind and his generation. 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.000 And also because he's iconic in all of these amazing 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.959 films from Indiana Jones too, of course Girls three Yeah. 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.280 Girls three, Monsoon Weddings. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:31.240 His performance in Mississimosla is so just He's really threatened 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.880 a needle in a way that like very few people can. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:34.559 It's amazing. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:35.280 Yeah. 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.720 I also love that you see a representation on screen 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.400 of a man crying, which he does in multiple scenes, 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.960 and I'm like, yes, let it out, king. 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.760 I mean, and also like the friendship breakup between he 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.440 and his old friend and you, I mean, that has 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.720 kind of been one of the most heart breaks. There 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.640 are so many extraordinary relationships in this film, but that 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.000 to me was like, that's the one that is incredibly hard. 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.520 And you're like, oh, totally between he and Oklo, Yeah. 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:07.360 Yeah, Well, why don't we take a quick break and 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:21.040 then we'll come back for the recap. Okay, here is 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:27.559 the recap of Mississippi Missala. We open in Kampala Uganda 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.760 in nineteen seventy two, during a period in history when 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.920 people from the Asian diaspora were forced to leave Uganda. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.000 And we can talk a little bit later about the 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:45.880 historical context there, but one such person is an Indian man, 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.840 a lawyer named Jay Loha played by Roshan Seth. He, 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.520 his wife Knu played by Sharmila Tagore, and their young 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:00.760 daughter Mina pack up to leave, and Jay is especially 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.600 despondent about leaving because he was born and raised in Uganda. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.960 I believe he's third generation Ugandan and a family friend 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.880 who we were just mentioning, okay Loo bids them a 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:20.160 tearful farewell, although Jay kind of refuses to say goodbye 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.600 to Okello for reasons that will become clear over the 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.400 course of the movie through flashbacks. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.760 But shout out to the actor who plays Kangabadhu because 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.040 he gives one of I think the saddest looks I've 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.880 ever seen in my entire life. It's a really really 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.960 beautiful scene, such great performances all around. 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:42.240 Yeah. 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:43.040 Yeah. 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:49.280 The family boards a bus to begin their journey to 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:55.040 leave Uganda. The bus is stopped by police. Keinu is 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:59.200 removed from the bus at gunpoint and her luggage is searched. 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.760 It's a very tense scene, but eventually the bus arrives 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:08.800 at the airport and Mina's family boards a plane and 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.480 they eventually end up in Greenwood, Mississippi by way of London. 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.440 For several years in the middle, but we cut to 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:22.720 eighteen years later, it's now nineteen ninety. We're in Greenwood, Mississippi. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.520 Mina is now an adult played by Serrita Childriy. She 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.880 lives at a motel where she also works as a cleaner. 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.199 Though right now, Mina is at a grocery store with 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:40.080 an auntie, buying dozens of gallons of milk for a wedding. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.920 On the car ride home, Mina accidentally rear ends a 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:50.360 van driven by Demetrius played by Denzel Washington. They exchange 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.920 names and addresses for insurance purposes, and the car that 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.960 Mina was driving belongs to a relative, Anneal, and He's 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.840 worried that Demetrius might sue him over this accident, but 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.200 Demetrius says, like, no worries, I'm not going to sue you. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:14.080 After a scene where other of Mino's relatives try to 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:18.120 like smooth things over and be like we're not white, 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.840 so we got to stick together and help each other out. Yeah, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:24.360 and we'll talk more about all of that. 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:30.440 There's also there's like this ongoing theme of Americans and litigation, 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.760 and specifically white Americans in litigation. But this like anxiety 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.600 around like this is a specifically American thing, just suing 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.760 the shit out of each other, which it's true. 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.680 Americans are very litigious people. 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.280 Amongst other things. Yeah, amongst many other things. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.720 There's also the backdrop of the fact that Jay himself 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.000 is a lawyer. Yeah, right, So he's a defense attorney 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.600 back in Uganda, and we can talk about that as well, 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.160 because he's like kind of in this profession that is 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:04.280 actually about defense Ugandan's through systems of justice. So there's 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.200 kind of multiple forms like suing as a kind of 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:12.640 weirdly American thing, suing in like totally minor matters versus 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.240 what Jay finds to be moral of his life, which 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.440 is to try to regain some sense of justice as 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.520 it relates to his lost property in Uganda. 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.800 But we learn more about Demetrius. He has his own 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:31.040 carpet cleaning business. We also meet some members of his family, 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:36.080 including his brother Dex and their father Willie Benn, who 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.200 works at a restaurant. Then we cut to the wedding 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:44.000 that Mina's family is attending. I believe it's Aneil's wedding, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.960 and we see women in the community gossiping about Mina, 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.640 saying that because she's darker skinned and her family doesn't 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:58.200 have money, she's not good enough for someone like Harry Patel. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:04.000 And one of these gossips is Mira and Yer, so yeah. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.480 Yeah, so they're like, she's she's not good enough for 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:12.400 Harry Patel. Though, this Harry fellow asks Mina to go 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.240 out with him after the wedding, so he takes her 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.960 to a bar and guess who happens to be there. 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:24.240 It's Demetrious and he's kind of preoccupied when he runs 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:29.200 into an old flame of his, a musician named Alicia, 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.200 who is there with another man, a record producer, because 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.720 she's trying to get her music career off the ground. 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.080 Yeah, they're they're both being a little bit diabolical during 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.440 this first meeting, which I was which I was like, again, 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.160 I'm like, it's just such a well written movie and 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.880 it feels so real where I was like, wow, that 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.640 never comes back, But of course it comes back that 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.440 it's sort of like they're trying to use each other 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.920 to make someone else jealous or feel a type of way, 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.080 and then they end up falling in love and. 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:03.840 Yeah, yeah, because what happens is Demetrius asks Mina if 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.040 she wants to dance to try to make Alicia jealous, 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.760 and they get very close and cozy, and poor Harry 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:19.359 Patel is like, what about me? And he ups and leaves. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.120 Demetrius then takes Mina home and a short time later 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.479 she calls him and he invites her to his dad's 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:32.400 birthday party that weekend. Meanwhile, we learn that Mina's dad, Jay, 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.080 has been working on this lawsuit for the past five 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.600 years where he's suing the Ugandan government for illegally displacing 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:45.720 his family. Mina asks her mom what happened between her 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:51.000 father and his friend Okaylo, but Keno changes the subject. 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.840 Then we cut to Demetrius driving Mina to the birthday 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.640 party and they're getting to know each other. Mina tells 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.080 him about her backstory. She's been in Mississippi for three 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.880 years before that, London for several years before that, Uganda, 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.760 and she's never been to India despite being of Indian descent. 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.160 Then they arrive at his family's house for the party. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.919 Mina meets his dad, his grandfather, his brother Dex, his 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:24.600 aunt Rose, and his friend Tyrone played by Charles S. Dutton, 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.480 who is she's already met him, but he continues to 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:36.760 be rather creepily lusting after Mina. The family asks her 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.399 a bunch of questions about where she's from, about having 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.800 lived in Africa, about how Indian people ended up there, 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.160 and then as soon as Demetrius's ex Alicia shows up, 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:54.080 he and Mina leave. They go to the bayou and 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:58.760 walk around where they're vibing and they kiss on the lips. 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:00.920 Great theme, it's so romantic. 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:06.600 Oh yeah, And also he asks for consent twice, which 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.080 you almost never see, but you love to see it. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.480 Then he invites her to go with him to Biloxi, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.240 which I had to look up, being unfamiliar with this region, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.280 but it's a city in Mississippi on the coast and 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:25.400 they're enjoying a nice little vacation, I believe on her birthday. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:30.960 But a few of Mina's relatives, including Anil and characters 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.560 named Napkin and Pontiac, also happened to be in Biloxi, 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:40.479 and they see Mina and Demetrius together, so they go 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:45.919 after them, saying like stay away from our women. A 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:50.160 fight breaks out, cops get involved, and Mina and Demetrius 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:56.000 are arrested. Jay bails Mina out of jail. Her parents 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.560 feel like she has brought shame to the family, but 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:04.960 Mina tell them that she's in love with Demetrius. Meanwhile, 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.600 Demetrius is also getting scrutiny from his family. A bank 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.600 loan for his business is in jeopardy, and Mina's family 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:18.920 tarnishes Demetrius's professional reputation around town. He goes to talk 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.640 to Mina about all of this at the motel where 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.560 she works, but Jay comes out instead, so Demetrius confronts 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:31.200 him for disrespecting him and his business and confronts him 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.359 for his lack of solidarity with other people of color. Also, 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:38.919 Jay has received word from the Ugandan government about his 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.800 lawsuit and they're granting him a hearing, and so he 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.320 has to travel back to Kampala for that. We get 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.520 a flashback of Jay's final night living in Uganda before 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:55.560 he's forcibly removed. Okaelo is telling him that it doesn't 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:59.639 matter that Jay was born in Uganda and identifies as 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:05.240 you gandin more so than he does Indian, because Africa 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.360 is for black Africans and Jay doesn't belong there. 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.439 Which we saw a less in context clip of at 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:12.679 the very beginning of the movie. 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:16.720 Yeah, yes, I think this is also the flashback where 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:20.840 we see Jay getting arrested and then Okaylo bailing him 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:25.080 out of jail. Then Mina and her dad have a 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:29.480 conversation about why they left Uganda, and it seems as 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.600 though Jay is jaded by the fact that he was 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.920 expelled from the country simply because of his race and ethnicity, 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.880 and he thinks that maybe Indian people should just stick 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:47.800 together and not mix with other people. Then, to retaliate 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.840 for having his professional reputation ruined, Demetrius decides to sue 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:57.040 Anil for fifty thousand dollars after all, claiming to have 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.560 a back injury from when Mina rear ended him driving 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:06.520 Anil's car. Jay decides to take his family back to Uganda, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.560 partly to get Mina away from Demetrius, partly to leave 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:14.560 Mississippi where they don't feel wanted, and partly for his 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:19.479 hearing and Kampala to try to reclaim his property, so 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.960 Mina goes looking for Demetrius to say goodbye. She finds him, 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:29.360 but he's upset, accusing her family of having a problem 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.719 with black people, and she's like, well, you never asked 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:35.639 me anything about myself because you were too busy using 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.360 me to make your girl, your old girlfriend, Alicia jealous, 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:42.440 and he's like, well, maybe that's how it was at first, 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:48.000 but then I fell in love with you and they reconcile. 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.879 Mina decides she doesn't want to accompany her parents to Uganda. 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.760 She wants to go with Demetrius, who also wants to 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:01.160 leave Mississippi, and they're gonna go somewhere together potentially start 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:06.840 working together, so she tells her parents. Meanwhile, Jay returns 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.600 to Uganda, I think without Kenu. 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:13.040 Yes, definitely, because she is I think taking care of 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:14.440 the business back at home. 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:19.200 Right, and he learns that his friend Oklo died many 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:24.200 years ago shortly after Jay left, seems at the hand 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:29.200 of the Ugandan government, possibly for his dissent, and so 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:33.760 Jay laments that he refused to say goodbye to Oklo. 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:38.720 He realizes that home is where the heart is, and 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.639 his heart is his family back in the US, but 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:46.320 he will always feel a strong connection to his home 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:52.840 country of Uganda the end. So let's take a quick 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:59.359 break and we'll come back to discuss. 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:08.680 And we're back. Where do I want to start? There's 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:10.200 so much to talk about. 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:13.520 Yeah, Derba, does anything jump out to you as far 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:14.520 as where to begin? 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:17.080 Oh? I mean where to begin? 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:20.000 As you pointed out Jamie right at the beginning, this 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:21.320 film is actually so rich. 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:23.120 There's so much to be said about it. 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:27.120 When I wrote about it, you know, I partly wrote 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:29.119 about it because I was talking about my own family 0:24:29.200 --> 0:24:31.840 history as I was talking about when we started. But 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.040 I kind of feel like we should begin at the beginning. 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:37.959 In that kind of early moment you described it as 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:40.040 a meat cute. Is a hilarious meat cute because it's 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:44.160 like ninety style cars breaking and you know, like it's 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:48.160 two cars that are just giant metal boxes hitting each other. 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:49.439 But you know it. 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:51.919 To me, there's so many parts of this film that 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:55.200 are extraordinary. We might start at the beginning only because 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:59.359 I think the Uganda story in this is unusual, and 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:02.240 I think often most people have not been exposed to, 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:05.520 which is that the story of Mena's family and the 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:08.960 story of Jay his wife Kinu is a story of 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:15.320 like multiple forced migrations that happened over many, many generations. Yeah, 0:25:15.359 --> 0:25:17.879 and that feeling of displacement is like, I think so 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:19.879 much a part of that of the film. 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:22.199