Dirty Pretty Things analysis

Dirty Pretty Things is a 2002 British thriller directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight.  It was produced by Robert Jones and Tracey Seaward.  The film had a budget of about £6.2million and runs for 97 minutes, the film made 8.7 million in the box office. This film shows the main themes of Love, Crime, determination, revenge and escape. The themes of determination and escape link quite well together in this because both protagonists are determined to leave the UK and carry on their lives elsewhere. The theme of crime is shown throughout the film and Love is only made obvious at the end of the film. Revenge however is shown plainly in one rather queasy scene nearer the end.

Dirty pretty things is set in London and focuses on two illegal immigrants Okwe a Nigerian doctor played by Chiwetel Ejifor and Senay a Turkish maid played by Audrey Tautou who work at the same West London hotel. Both have come here to improve their lives but find that the system makes it difficult for them to keep living in Britain. The protagonist Okwe was forced to leave Nigeria for reasons that are gradually explained throughout the course of the film. Now he works as a cab driver by day and a hotel desk clerk by night. The hotel is a place used for drug dealings and the surgical removal of organs from desperate immigrants in exchange for passports. These are all carried out by the hotel’s head receptionist Juan (Sergi Lopez) known as Sneaky.

The title "Dirty Pretty Things" may refer to hotel rooms and the guests who stay at this downtown London hotel. They come in and "dirty" up the rooms and it is up to the two protagonists of this movie and the other hotel employees to turn the rooms back into "pretty things" once again.

The performances were sympathetic and engaging, and both Ejifor and Tautou portrayed their fear in an incredibly realistic way. They both made me worried for them as they were on the run from the dangerous side of London. This film revels in the silent situations it creates and allows the viewer to be challenged along with the character. We grow attached to Okwe, but his background is still shrouded in mystery. Lopez managed to make the viewers feel uncomfortable due to his sly, unnerving behaviour yet, and I was left throughout the majority of the film wondering whether or not he was the good or bad guy until he showed what he was really up too then he certainly made me 

cringe.

When we are first introduced to Okwe, he appears to be wearing quite shabby clothes with dull colours. This highlights that Okwe is not very wealthy. During the very first scene slow piano music is playing, this helps to create drama and makes the audience feel sympathetic towards Okwe. When Okwe talks to two business men at the airport to offer them a lift, the frame is positioned so the two men are higher up then Okwe highlighting their dominance as he stands behind them. Also Okwe is not given eye contact in this scene when he communicates with them. This helps to show immigrants are not treated equally and with respect. Where Okwe drives too is shown and it appears to be very run down. The lighting in dark and gloomy which implies it may be quite a dangerous place. Okwe speaks to another man but this time there is no clear divide and they are faced towards each other which shows they have the same status in society.

There was one particular scene in the film which I enjoyed and they used a lot of components in this scene to make it feel tense. Okwe has been told by a prostitute, Juliet (Sophie Okendo) to go and check one of the rooms, when he first enters the room a high angle shot is used to show Okwe’s vulnerability and makes him appear harmless. He enters the bathroom when he hears running water to find an overflowing toilet. Just before he enters the room the lighting is very dark suggesting to the audience something bad is going to happen.  He then goes on to search for the object that is blocking the toilet. He tries to get the object out with a bent hanger and shows an annoyed expression. The water starts to turn red which as this point, this made me worry because I was unsure yet I really wanted to know what was down the toilet. The camera shows a shot looking up towards Okwe from the toilet and he shows a shocked expression but as he pulls out a heart rather tense music starts to play. The music also begins to get louder as he pulls the heart out which builds tension and to add drama to the scene making the audience feel anxious. The music stops when the door slams implying someone has entered or left the room.

The camera shows a long shot of the hotel where Okwe and many other immigrants’ work and from this shot we can tell that the hotel uniform is red and the sign is red. This is quite significant because the colour red connotes danger and inside the hotel a lot of illegal activity happens. For example prostitution and immigrants trading in their organs for passports.

Nearer the end of the film Okwe has made a deal with another man in the parking lot and the man asks “How come I’ve never seen you before” to which Okwe replies “because we are the people you don’t see” This reveals that throughout the film the producer may have been trying to show how different immigrants are to everyone else because they are always aiming to not be seen. At the start of the film the reveal of the unseen begins. Filmed in London it takes us to unfamiliar areas and denies us helpful establishing shots that orient us to the city we never see, for instance, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, or Piccadilly Circus. In doing so Dirty Pretty Things presents, a different London if it is even “London” at all. The film opens with Okwe soliciting fares for his cab however it’s not the iconic and “official” black cab of London but a simple passenger car at Stansted Airport. The kidney also resonates with the theme of invisibility in the film. Like the central characters of the film, the kidney, however vital; is an organ we do not see, at least not on the surface.

Other than the hotel nearly every location in the film must be entered through a maze of tunnels or back ways. Okwe accesses Senay’s apartment, for instance, by cutting through the back of a convenience store and going up a fire escape. His cab office, approached by driving through a series of tunnels, is tucked away under a bridge where trains endlessly roar past. Okwe’s friend Guo Yi (a Chinese immigrant) works in a dank morgue in the bowels of a hospital where he happily lets friends stay when they need a safe place. The fact that the morgue is connected to a hospital makes the pilferage of medicine rather easy and convenient which helps out Okwe with his money troubles and he works as a doctor on the side. Again all these separate escape routes show how the immigrants have desperation to stay hidden away from everyone else in the fear of being turned in to the immigration officers.

I enjoyed the film because I felt the performances were able to show a vast array of emotions and I could connect easily with the characters. Also it was good because this film isn’t just a mystery about downtrodden immigrants trying to survive. There are nice comic touches and a romantic side.