Man Push Cart is not a new film. It isn’t really a classic film. But its relevance has never been stronger than now, twenty years after its first release in 2005. This is a feature film by Ramin Bahrani, a recognized talent in the field of directing and writing. In the case of Man Push Cart, Bahrani wrote, directed, edited, and co-produced. It’s his film all the way!
The story is straight forward, focusing on Ahmad, played by Ahmad Razvi. Ahmad is a Pakistani man of about thirty-something who has settled in New York City. He comes from Lahore, and hangs out mainly with others from his home country. The idea of a melting pot in America has disappeared. If there are doubts about that, check out the campus center dining hall of your local university. The Jewish students gather together. The black students and the Chinese-American students have their tables. Students from South Shore Long Island hang out together. Sure, not always, but often.
Ahmad was a popular singer ten years before in Pakistan, possibly a rock star. Viewers see his hit audiotape. He had a loving wife and small son. There is mystery to Ahmad’s past decade. He still has his good looks-- he has a Shakespearean look to him, and he is genuinely charming and kind and hard-working.
He has a shabby studio apartment, a kitten, and his push cart. Well before dawn he heads for his cart, fills it with bagels, muffins, and breakfast pastries, coffee and tea, and with all his muscle and might, he drags his cart to his corner. He carries his propane tank with him almost everywhere. Ahmad is an immigrant who is relentless in making a living so that he can reclaim his son from his in-laws. He doesn’t speak about the American dream, but simply wants to have a fulfilled life.
We encounter an immigrant from Spain named Noemi, a woman who works hard at a newsstand. She lifts and organizes heavy packages of tabloids and The Times, stacks glass jars of iced tea in a cooler. In Spain she is an educated person, a translator.
Life in NYC isn’t an upwards climb to acceptance, love, and wealth. There are as many downs as there are ups. Ahmad’s world doesn’t go much further than a few Pakistani cohorts and acquaintances. Noemi has plans to go back home to Spain.
Man Push Cart doesn’t have a Hollywood look to it. Its story isn’t neatly packaged. No melodrama. It clearly is an early 21st Century indie feature. It is outstanding. This film has won 24 film awards, and has been given nods by 29 more, many of them prestigious. Bahrani has taught film direction at Columbia University in New York, and his films Chop Shop, The White Tiger, and others are available for streaming and/or on disc.
Man Push Cart has a definite New York vibe. There are many close shots and the camera frequently moves informally. It’s moody, with many shots of Manhattan’s colorfully-lit streets at night and during rainfalls.
At times the cruelties of New York City are breaking these immigrants. One conversation stopped me cold. A friend of Ahmad drives up alongside him and asks, Have you seen Reza lately? Man, I hear he’s got it sweet. He’s up in Albany working at Dunkin’ Doughnuts. That’s the life.” Man Push Cart is available on disc and streamable as part of the Criterion Collection.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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