Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11153 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Somali
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With Dirty Pretty Things Stephen Frears (The Grifters) gives us a dark gritty film examining London's seedier underbelly. Oscar nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor is Okwe, a Nigerian doctor who fled to Britain after the death of his family. So far he has evaded capture by the authorities and successfully held down two jobs as a taxi driver and night porter in a downmarket hotel. But all this changes when he finds a human heart blocking a toilet in one of the rooms and discovers his manager is running an organ trafficking operation offering illegal immigrants passports for organs. The plot then follows a well-trodden thriller path as Okwe wrestles with his conscience and also the growing affections of Turkish asylum seeker Senay (Audrey Tautou).

Ejiofor and Tautou give incredibly affecting performances as the disenfranchised inhabitants of the capital city and the plot is harrowing without being sensationalist. The only disappointment is the black-and-white morality that holds the film together. In a drama that sets out to challenge our perceptions and prejudices, the inappropriately Hollywood ending is a letdown that does nothing to raise this film above being a stock thriller, albeit of the more intelligent kind. --Kristen Bowditch

Synopsis
Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a remarkably understated performance in director Stephen Frears's offbeat and gripping drama DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. Ejiofor stars as Okwe, a Nigerian who is trying to make a new life for himself in London, where he works days as a taxi driver and nights as a hotel desk receptionist. When he discovers a human heart in a hotel-room bathroom, he cannot go to the police because he is an illegal alien with a mysterious past he refuses to talk about. Suddenly he is thrust into the middle of a dangerous situation that threatens to have tragic results for him and those around him.
French ingenue Audrey Tautou costars as a Turkish woman who has sought asylum in England, where she is allowed to live but not work. But she must make money, so she works secretly while the government tries to catch her. Benedict Wong turns in a fine supporting performance as Guo Yi, a morgue employee who shares wise and humorous sayings with Okwe. Frears directs the unusual proceedings with a deft hand, slowly revealing secrets that are as gruesome as they are poignant.

Customer Reviews

Cinema that's not predictable Hollywood pap
Dirty Pretty Things will never be mainstream and will never be viewed by the masses. This is a real shame because the majority of the blockbusters we get to see have nothing to offer other than perhaps 90 minutes of special effects. Dirty Pretty Things will stay with you for a very long time after the final scene plays.

The film refuses to be heavy handed about the issues which most will focus on -- illegal immigrants. Neither does the film lose itself in characterisation at the expense of story -- there is a good plot which really gets you gripped as you wonder how things will turn out.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough. I hope that the British film industry continues to make films like this and resist the urge to only make "Hugh Grant vehicles". DPT reminds us how powerful cinema can be, without needing huge explosions to impress you. I urge you to watch this.

The Best British Film In Years
In terms of culture this film shows us brits a truly different story of immigrants and multi ethnic communities, whether you agree or disagree with the country's policies on immigration, I think you will be hard pushed not to feel compassion and sympathy for these characters. Having said that I must stress this film is not about doom and gloom, it keeps a good deal of humour throughout, but it has a strong undercurrent, and a plot which I found original and not easily predicted. The acting is fantastic, the only actor I knew of before being Audrey Tautou of Amelie fame, which just shows her versatility, as this role is a far cry from the lovable french girl, she plays a Turkish refugee trying to survive in London, paying rent and food bills and not being allowed to legally work. The lead role being played by Chiwetel Ejiofor is equally convincing, his charater is lighter and more comedic which brings the whole film a watchable yet intense quality. This film has to be one of the must see films of the year, do yourself a favour, drop the holywood blockbusters for this week, you won't be sorry.

Gives "room service" a bad name
If you were delighted by Audrey Tatou's quirky, comedic role in AMELIE, be prepared for a whole new side of this French actress in DIRTY PRETTY THINGS. This young star does drama with the best. And either way, her enormous brown eyes would melt linoleum.

Tatou plays Senay, an undocumented Turkish immigrant toiling in London's underground labor pool as a maid at the Hotel Baltic in an unprepossessing part of the city. The night shift desk clerk, Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), also undocumented, is a Nigerian on the run from government persecution back home. In the old country, Okwe was a licensed physician. In London, besides his hotel gig, Okwe drives a cab using borrowed credentials. Senay surreptitiously allows Okwe, who hasn't a permanent residence, the use of her flat's couch to sleep on while she works the day shift.

One morning, Okwe pulls a fresh human heart out of a plugged toilet in one of the hotel's rooms. Wishing to make it a police matter, Okwe brings the body part to the attention of the Baltic's day manager, Sneaky (Sergi Lopez), who persuades the former to let the matter rest by playing on his fear of discovery by Immigration. Besides, Sneaky advises, the job of a hotel is to PRETTY up the DIRTY THINGS that happen during the wee hours.

If you're hoping to catch a glimpse of touristy London, forget it. I've been there more times than I can remember, and didn't spot anything I recognized - not even the Thames. This is London's gritty underbelly, the home of undocumented immigrants so desperate to reach someplace better that they risk death selling their body parts on the transplantable organs black market in exchange for passports and airline tickets. For instance, Senay longs for New York City, a place (she thinks) of lights in the trees and policeman on white horses, where she has a cousin.

Tatou appears on American ads for DIRTY PRETTY THINGS perhaps because she's the only one of the actors potentially recognizable to U.S. audiences. However, Ejiofor is the film's lead, and his low key, excellent performance argues for more widespread exposure. Lopez's Sneaky is the sort of oily, disgusting villain that one loves to hate. Particularly endearing in a secondary role is Sophie Okonedo as Juliette, the effervescent hooker who uses the Baltic for her nightly trysts.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS is an unusual love story, a tale of righteous retribution, and an indictment of sordid conditions just around the corner and out of sight of the chirpy tour guide and her charges on their way to Buckingham Palace to have a chinwag with the Queen. It's a film different from, and certainly much superior to, the usual fare.