Movie Review
Outsourced – Barrie Film Festival, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.
 
My resistance to the element of surprise in the movie selection process is unwavering. I’m one of those people who doesn’t mind knowing the ending, and I definitely like reading the reviews first.

However, for my inaugural unresearched and intrepid attendance at a special pre-screening night of Barrie’s 11th-Annual Barrie Film Festival, I was pleasantly rewarded with an unexpected and magnificent flurry of colour and comedy.

Outsourced provided an outstanding moviegoing experience, as richly saturated as the joyous excitement and rainbow hues captured in its scene depicting Holi (Festival of Colours).

Like the main character, Todd (or as they call him in India, Mr. Toad), it’s easy to identify with resistance to a mandated trip of short notice to a foreign country. As a manager at a customer call centre, Todd is told that he must train his replacement.

A sign reading “fulfillment” greets him at the building where Indian workers strive to bring up their productivity. But first, they must learn to modify their accents in order to pass for natives of Chicago.

Todd’s culture shock runs from that of toilet trouble to one of language, wandering cows, and even romance. A desperate, hunger driven quest to find a burger sends him across the city to Bombay.

MacDonnell’s is not the restaurant he expected, yet Todd’s chance meeting of a fellow American sets him on his way to deeper personal growth. A word to the wise tells him that once he stops resisting, he will feel much better.

While it may take Todd a pigmented-powder balloon-bomb to the face to value a venture into the culturally diverse, one need only buy a ticket to Outsourced to enjoy such wonderment.

Enhanced with infectious rhythms of Indian music, insights into humour and the welcoming nature of its people, Outsourced is approved for an all-age audience. Winner of four awards including Best Film, Seattle International Film Festival, 2007, Outsourced will play on the final day of the Barrie Film Festival, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. at Imperial 8 Cinemas, 55 Dunlop St. W.

For clips, click the link provided. There is also a link to the festival.