Alternate Best Actor 2002: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dirty Pretty Things

Chiwetel Ejiofor did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Okwe/Olatokumbo Fadipe in Dirty Pretty Things.

Dirty Pretty Things is an effective, more character piece than thriller, about illegal immigrants in London who get intertwined in a criminal black market based within a hotel.

So I return to Chiwetel Ejiofor in one of his first major film roles in what was part of his minor breakout, that he's slowly expanded, though never quite enough to really match what I think could be his potential. Ejiofor here plays the seemingly unassuming character in Okwe who we meet working as a cab driver in the day then a hotel concierge at night. Ejiofor's performance offers his typical charisma here as we see the man going about his day. This with a consistent natural African accent that helps us see his character as the immigrant, though obviously has long spent his time elsewhere causing it to be reduced. Ejofor gets along typically as he grants early on Okwe's this sort of quiet near stoicism. He doesn't simplify him but rather establishes him as a man who obviously wishes to fly under the radar. He still has a low key charm about him as he picks up passengers at an airport, but at the same time there's a weight within his work. This Ejiofor has a certain sense of trauma within the man, a dormant quality within Ejiofor's work that is a given. There isn't something he immediately states about his past, but rather he creates the sense that Okwe has gone through something within his past that bares on him now. This is effectively drawn though as an internalized quality within Ejiofor's performance. This as in the present Ejiofor shows us a man attempting to live through his existence without making a particular splash at first, an existence though that is one of a near constant motion.

Ejiofor then is a captivating lead to follow as Okwe goes through his rather difficult existence as he comes across the nastier side of things in each. Whether that seeing severely injured men at his cabby station or finding a human heart within a bathroom at his hotel. Ejiofor's performance captures a careful sort of contained empathy within the man. This as Okwe obviously wants to stay under the radar yet in these moments we can see his immediate horror or low key disbelief in moments. This finding the nature of the man and the odd symmetry we find him in. This as Ejiofor finds the right balance in his reactions in terms of creating are concern in part, but also a sense of distaste towards the guilty parties that seem to be associated with the horrible acts. We get a better relationship in his moments where we see Okwe interacting with his friend Guo Yi (Benedict Wong). He and Wong share a nice chemistry between them in that you get a good sense of camaraderie within sort of attempting to make the best of an area filled with hardships. The most essential relationship though is Turkish Muslim immigrant Senay (Audrey Tautou), with whom he partially shares a home, though in technically practical not sexual relationship sort of way. This is where I'd say Ejiofor's nuance is most pivotal. This as he creates the right manner in Okwe where he portrays his manner towards her most often in an almost paternal context. This in creating a sense of warmth more so than a winning charm, in accentuating the way Okwe is trying to support her just as she supports him with her home.

The more we find about Okwe the more is revealed about him, though Ejiofor very much accentuates a man who is who he is, even if he is more than he is. This as it becomes evident that he was an educated doctor in Africa now working the menial jobs due to some past circumstance. This as we see Okwe in action as a doctor helping an injured taxi cab man, Ejiofor is fantastic. This in such conviction and empathy in his eyes, a calm determination, but also a sense of frustration in seeing the sort of failure of the system around him within the suffering right in front of him. This as he learns that there is a black market organ scheme in the hotel he is working for, spearheaded by its sleazy manager Sneaky (Sergi Lopez). Ejiofor is fantastic in creating such an honest heroic quality within Okwe as he undergoes these revelations. Those revelations along with seeing Senay continued hardships that are slowly leading towards the desire to exploit her, particularly sexually. Ejiofor is great by making these moments of interacting with Sneaky and Senay separately so powerfully inform his characters actions. This in his interactions with Sneaky, and thinking about them later, there is that profound sense of both distaste and distress over this horrible behavior. With Senay, Ejiofor is wonderful in again projecting this pitch perfect chemistry with Tautou, who presents an overt infatuation, while Ejiofor is marvelous by slightly deflecting as pure love, but wholly non-sexual in that sense. Ejiofor instead so poignantly emphasizes in every moment he looks upon her the genuine concern just for a person he cares about.

Ejiofor makes it wholly convincing then as Okwe takes rather extreme action, though heroic action, by exploiting the devious Sneaky, by getting passports from him, before drugging him to use him for a kidney payoff rather than Senay as Sneaky intended. Ejiofor's terrific though by making the determination of Okwe in these scenes a given, and with that conviction in his eyes of a man simply committing a righteous act in the moment. After taking the successful gambit, that will allow him to return to Africa and let Senay go to the US, first Okwe reveals his past. This where he was forced to flee when his wife was purposefully murdered and he was forced to flee away from his daughter. Ejiofor is marvelous in the scene in so quietly yet still emotionally raw delivering of the recounting of the story. Ejiofor suggesting the lost of his wife but also that very real pain of being separated from his daughter. This is why he and Senay must part ways. Their two final parting just being excellent work from Ejiofor again. Here in portraying just a slight ease away from the purely paternal to grant a sense of perhaps the potential for more overt romance internalized with him, though still with this manner that keeps a distance while only expressing the strongest of affections for her. This though is a prelude to when just a moment later when Okwe finally calls his daughter again and calling home. Ejiofor is outstanding in this moment as that haunted quality in his work come to the forefront in this outpouring of pent up emotion and is absolutely heartbreaking. This in making one care wholly about this relationship in a moment that we only really heard about a few minutes before. This is a great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, as he not only leads the film effortlessly in just a low key charismatic turn, but also anchors it with such a palatable sense of humanity.