Blinded by the Light

In August 2020, I watched Blinded by the Light for the first time at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi. The British drama movie was opened in 2019 and is based on a true story.

Javed is a high school student and a Pakistani living in a British local town. He has being annoyed by racists in the neighborhood and his relationship with his father. One day, he listens to some Bruce Springsteen songs and he is inspired a lot by the lyrics, and then he starts to live positively. The story describes his adolescence.

When I heard my favorite Bruce Springsteen's hit songs like "Dancing in the Dark," "Badlands," "The River," "Hungry Heart" and "Born to Run," I moved to tears for the first time in a while partly because of nostalgia. Although I have not been a big fan of Springsteen, yet I have liked many of his hit songs. The power of music is really amazing. I recognized it anew at that time.

The movie is good, though I did not know all of the characters except for Springsteen on the TV footage. Each actor played well as its role but did not impress me so much. However, some characters were so unique and charming that I suspected that they had really existed in the local town. I was impressed by a female school teacher, who was earnestly encouraging Javed to write, and a white old man, Javed's neighbor, who was also doing him to write poems. Then I felt really amused by the father of Matt, Javed's friend from childhood, who had a strong attachment to The Boss. Moreover, I felt deja vu and smiled in spite of myself when Matt said, "Billy Joel?" looking at Springsteen on a poster in the hands of Javed, for I had been laughed at by my friends when we were still boys and I confidently said, "He is Billy Joel," looking at Springsteen on the same poster mounted in a record shop.

I felt comfortable seeing how Javed has started to live cheerfully and positively listening to The Boss's great songs. In addition, I was happy and kind of amused at the change of Javed's father, who had had feud with his son, toward the ending.

I cannot understand why the film overly praises Springsteen and the United States despite being a British one, but all the same I believe that it is wonderful for an adolescent one.