One fringe-film well worth seeking out this month is It’s a political thriller in the vein of Syriana and The Kite Runner, which paints a picture of the polarised world that has risen out of the ruins of September 11, and the false gods that have led us here.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is based on the novel by Mohsin Hamid, which was nominated for the Mann-Booker Prize, and is primarily set in Lahore, Pakistan. Changez, a fire-brand university lecturer sits in a café being interviewed by Bobby, a CIA operative posing as a journalist. Changez is suspected of being involved in the violent abduction of a US professor whose life now hangs in the balance. He asks Bobby to withhold his judgment until he has heard his entire story. He proceeds to tell him that, “Looks can be deceiving. I’m actually in love with America.”

Changez grew up in a prestigious Pakistani family that has since fallen on hard times. By grit and determination he put himself through Princeton and eventually gained a position at a prestigious Wall Street firm. Changez describes his worldview with religious fervour: “I worshipped in those temples of glass and steel like many other men. Men who controlled the world … God bless America. God bless its level playing fields. God bless winning.”

However, the destruction of the World Trade Centre turns his American Dream into a nightmare. He is racially profiled at the airport and endures a cavity search, is mistakenly arrested and suffers racism at work. The capitalist god he trusted in for his security has spurned him, and he tells Bobby, “… my anger had congealed and been hardened by disappointment.”

He returned to Lahore and was ripe for recruiting by terrorists, but he realized that they too followed a faith that insisted on painting people black or white, and it would lead to just as much pain.

I’ll leave it to the viewer to discover the path Changez finds through this maze of capitalist and Islamic fundamentalism, but one truth that emerges clearly is the danger of serving what Tim Keller refers to as “counterfeit gods”. The prosperity the capitalist seeks and the justice the Islamist espouses are undeniably good goals.

However, they cannot be allowed to become fundamental rules, as Changez discovers. The former thrives on the impoverishment of others, while the latter results in a river of blood.

If there is a fundamental that arises above fundamentalism, then The Reluctant Fundamentalist suggests it is our need to turn inward and improve ourselves. I have no doubt that the problem lies within, but I think this is the point where this poignant film overreaches itself.

The unity The Reluctant Fundamentalist calls for is a tricky thing, because it begs the question, around what do we unite? I agree with Changez that all men are equal and equally deserving of respect, but the fundamental basis for our unity is that we all need help to achieve this. One thing this film demonstrates convincingly is that selfishness, suspicion and anger will always wreck even our best attempts at self-improvement.

Jesus died on the cross, not to demonstrate the virtue of self-sacrifice, but to serve our greatest need. The Islamic terrorist, American financier and I all have sin-soaked hearts, and unless Jesus saves us from them our best intentions will only drag us towards rising fundamentalism, or outright despair.