We rarely think about the lives of the people around us, but more so the lives of the people who’ve come from another country completely different from our own. Man Push Cart depicts the life of Ahmad, a widower and former Pakistani rockstar, in the city of New York, just a few years after 9/11, and it’s an empathetic view, quietly witnessing the daily difficulty, paranoia, and mistrust that his life is pushed to hold due to circumstances. Writer-director Ramin Bahrani captures his life without much flourish, but it follows in the footsteps of many neorealists before him, and it works to capture the everyday reality people like Ahmad have faced. Filming this might have been challenging– passersby have heckled the cast and crew, and the production was even visited by the FBI due to calls accusing them of terrorism– but Man Push Cart is a perspective that still needs to be seen today.
Synopsis
Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former Pakistani rock star turned immigrant, drags his heavy cart along the streets of New York. And every morning, he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. One day, however, the pattern of this harsh existence is broken by a glimmer of hope for a better life.
Storyline
After a life performing on stage as a rock star, Pakistani immigrant Ahmad now works as a coffee cart vendor in Manhattan, but a chance encounter with a businessman may change his fortune unexpectedly.
TLDR
Please treat everyone you see with kindness, you truly never really know what they’re going through.
What stands out
The way the film was shot was pretty threadbare, but it adds to the effect because of the way it looks like a documentary.
