A smart indie effort, The Taqwacores showcases the rarely heard muslim punk rock underground scene dubbed 'taqwacore,' a term first-penned by co-screenwriter Michael Muhammad Knight. With Knight's (acclaimed/ controversial/ underground) novel of the same name as source material, director Eyad Zahra constructs a compelling narrative, which centers around a muslim-punk house in Buffalo, NY, to which straight-laced Pakistani college student Yusef (Bobby Naderi) arrives. An ingénue with an open mind, his exposure to all things taqwacore drives the plot.
The housemates are strikingly diverse, best embodied by Indonesian skater Fasiq (Ian Tran). They also include conflicted straight-edger Umar (Nav Mann), shirtless skinhead Amazing Ayyub (Volkan Eryaman), patched-up-burka-sporting spitfire Rabeya (Noureen Dewulf), west-coast queer punk Muzzamil (Tony Yalda), and most simpatico of all, the mohawk-ed soul of the film, Jehangir (Dominic Rains). Each wrestles with reconciling their assimilationist, punk values with the constricting, religiously-based cultural edicts imposed from within. Further complicating is the rejection coming from both sides, for which reason the film is a valuable exposé of diversity that counters the widely-held view of muslims as as a monolithic, homogeneous group. And while a plethora of issues, predominantly of identity, are tackled, Taqwacores is rightfully content in not providing any answers, opting to touch upon fire-button issues as a point of embarking on necessary and hopefully wanted dialogue.
dir Eyad Zahra
The Taqwacores official site
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