HBO’s much talked about drama “The Night Of” stars one of today’s hottest actors, Riz Ahmed, who plays Nasir Khan, a Muslim-American young man who might or might not have “done it” (um, murder his date). The film also explores the ways Nasir’s arrest affects his extended family who are working-class people, living in Queens, and are of Pakistani descent.
Lorraine Ali is cultural writer for the Los Angeles Times and says this of the series: “It’s made Muslims central to a story that has nothing to do with terror or war or Trump, given them depth, and rendered them human. Their world is a slice of New York that has little to do with the high rises of Manhattan or the hipsters of Brooklyn. It’s the outer boroughs where of second-generation kids strive to meet their hard working, immigrant parents expectations. Nasir Kahn’s father is a cabbie, part of a sub-culture of Muslims from South Asia and the Middle East. They are today’s version of the Jewish tailors, Irish cops and Italian restaurant workers who once made up Manhattan’s immigrant work force.”
“The Night Of” can be seen on HBO, perfect for weekend binge-watching…
