Amu (2005)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 1,300
My Rating
Movie Info
Seeking to uncover the mysteries of her past, a 21-year-old, Delhi-born American woman travels to India to seek out her long-lost relatives in this politically charged drama from filmmaker Shonali Bose. Kaju (Konkona Sensharma) was only three years old when she was swept away to America by her adoptive mother -- but Kaju was never given a definitive reason for her hasty departure or an answer to the question of what fate befell her original birth parents. As the visibly Americanized Kaju seeks
Cast
-
Konkona Sen Sharma
Kaju -
Ankur Khanna
Kabir -
Brinda Karat
Keya -
Yashpal Sharma
Gobind -
Lovleen Mishra
Leelavati -
Choiti Ghosh
Tuki -
Ganeve Rajkotia
Shanno Kaur
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All Critics (27) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (5)
Shot with remarkable confidence and an understated eloquence.
Top CriticLess about finger-pointing than a plea for India to confront its past.
An admirable labor of love that stumbles dramatically but gets along on its sincere good intentions.
[Amu] is clearly a labor of love for the activist filmmaker, as she breaks all the traditional inhibitions of Bollywood to remind the world of -- and, for most of us, reveal for the first time -- one of the most shameful episodes in Indian history.
The movie has its share of wobbly moments, and the resolution feels a bit like a cop-out.
In Shonali Bose's tightly constructed debut feature (2005) a young Indian-American woman from Los Angeles returns to Delhi for the first time since childhood to visit her relatives.
The 1984 Delhi riots [are worked into] into the story of an American-raised college graduate who returns to her South Asian roots and is shocked by what she finds.
A work of evident passion and outrage, Amu is also remarkable for its humanism and persuasive, natural presentation.
The flashback sequences are vibrant and intense, and the film's long closing shot is so dense with feeling for a nation and its people that Bose deserves to be noted as a filmmaker to watch.
[Though] undermined by uneven performances, preachy digressions and a handful of clunky scenes, it's nonetheless compelling on a personal level.
The flat, pat talk is symptomatic of Amu's overriding problem: It has no sense of personal style.
1984 may have a certain negative meaning to Westerners ever since Orwell immortalized that futuristic dystopia. But for India's Sikhs, 1984 has a far more dreaded historical significance, and one oddly buried here deep within their collective memory.
Audience Reviews for Amu
Super Reviewer
....this keeps on happening in other countries to this day!!
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Konkona Sen Sharma, Ankur Khanna, Brinda Karat, Choiti Ghosh, and Yashpal Sharma stars. Worth seeing!!