Man Push Cart

I confess I don't know much about the genre of Italian Neo-realism. I've seen only Vittorio de Sica's brilliant The Bicycle Thief. But when I recently read Ebert's much delayed but very enjoyable top ten of 2006: Ebert, I was intrigued by the inclusion of his number ten selection Man Push Cart. Ebert praised "as strong as or stronger than anything produced by Italian neorealism, and in the same spirit." Well I'll be honest my one experience with Neo-realism was the aforementioned Bicycle Thief so when Ebert was promising something better I immediately went to my dvd queue and added it as number one.

I like Ebert and generally I trust Ebert. I know just by reading a review whether I will agree with him or not. This time I was wrong. Not to say that Man Push Cart doesn't have a lot going for it. It certainly does. What it pulls off it pulls off amazingly and with heart. But when its not working its very painful to watch in the wrong way. What was so gripping in The Bicycle Thief was how the not so nice world of post war Italy unfolds for a poor man trying to get by. And the horror by which I realized despite my cinematic expectations that there would be no happy ending.

Man Push Cart is the story of a Pakistani immigrant named Ahmad. Ahmad wakes up every day in the early morning so that he can literally pull a portable bagel cart to a New York street corner and serve donuts and coffee. This is Ahmad's life. This is how he makes his living. Occasionally he sells bootleg porn on his walk home for a few extra bucks. Ahmad is trying to raise enough money to buy the cart he uses as well as get an apartment large enough that his son can come back to live with him. There are numerous repetitions of this routine which leave you with an overwhelming impression of the desperation and the sad life he leads.

Perhaps this wasn't thought enough or the filmmaker thought he had only half a movie (and maybe he did). So two very artificial subplots are introduced. Ahmad meets a wealthier Pakistani named Mohammad, who seemingly out of homeland solidarity helps out (but more often takes advantage) of his less well off friend. An equally dead on arrival story evolves from an encounter with Noemi. Noemi is a young woman who works at a news stand and the two have a mutual attraction and begin to hang out. Both as i say fall flat and are highly artificial.

Still praise should be given to this film when it is being more genuine. It is an extraordinary view into the lives that on a daily basis most people don't even think about. The former doctors and rock stars and professors and such who upon reaching the United States for whatever reason were considered no more qualified than to serve breakfast or mop the floor. Often times the camera is shown on real people completely unaware or caring about the man serving them their donut's story. When this was being portrayed I was riveted and interested.

A final very contrived event occurs at the end of the story (reminiscent of The Bicycle Thief) which causes Ahmad to run around for a while trying to instill in us a final sense of hopelessness but it fails because it feels contrived and like mimicry. Still the film did end on a final note of monotony of work that had me wishing the whole film could have been as memorable.