Where You’ve Come From to Where You Now Are

Mira Nair's 'The Namesake

This past weekend I was reminded of the challenges of leaving South Africa and moving to another country.

When I moved to Canada, it felt easy — I was young, in love and excited about everything a new country had to offer. But it was not without its challenges. Probably the biggest three being learning to live without your immediate family, learning to gauge the new society and your place in it, and learning (over many years) to find that balance between where you’ve come from and where you now are.

First, on Friday night, we watched Mira Nair’s 2006 film The Namesake, about a first and second generation Bengali Indian family settling in the US over a number of decades. I expected it to be another generational parents in the old world and kids in the new world type flick, as many East-West movies are. But this film took me by surprise. The Namesake is rich, intense and very personal, with small, beautiful, sad touches here and there and wonderful, finely rendered characters, the kind that pop off the screen and stay with you for days after.

And I found myself reliving many of those awkward, painful-in-retrospect moments of moving to a new country. Those of you considering emigrating? Watch this movie.

Second … and just a quick mention. An article over at Homecoming Revolution caught my eye this morning. It highlights the benefits and challenges for young Southern Africans of different races and professions settling in Australia. Very interesting. So check that out too!

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Posted: March 31st, 2008

Categories: Politics & society, Arts & culture, Living abroad, Books, movies & music

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