Abhiroop Das
With David Mackenzie at the helm, ‘Fuze‘ steps into a version of London that is in absolute turmoil ever since the discovery of an unexploded bomb at the Paddington Basin. The bomb, believed to be from World War II, was discovered in a construction site overlooking Edgware Road, and soon enough, everyone in the nearby area was asked to evacuate. While all of this is happening, though, a bank heist scarily close to the bomb site seems to be underway. As the heist thriller movie goes on, the thieves break into Bank Al Muraqabah, using the isolated environment to their advantage. However, soon, the authorities sense movement inside the bank, and just as the plan seems destined to unravel, a new twist changes the course of the heist.
Bank Al Muraqabah is a Fictional Bank That Gets Caught up in a Heist
Bank Al Muraqabah is a fictional location created by Ben Hopkins for the world of ‘Fuze,’ serving as one of the two main settings in the field. While in-universe it is depicted as being along Edgware Road, an actual road in London, no such bank exists in real life. Instead, it appears that Hopkins and his team invented Al Muraqabah with the finer details of the story in mind. Everything, from the bank’s name to its placement, fit into the film’s larger twists and turns. Interestingly, the original concept came from director David Mackenzie, who wanted to mash together a bomb-disposal plotline with a bank-heist one, which is where Bank Al Muraqabah steps in.
The Persian-origin name of Bank Al Muraqabah roughly translates to “The Watchfulness,” which does line up with the larger themes of the movie. As the threat of an unexploded World War II bomb prompts a mass evacuation, a heist crew uses that as an opportunity to drill into the bank and steal a lot of valuables. While this incident may not have a direct basis in reality, it is loosely reminiscent of a real crime that took place at the Arab National Bank branch located at Cuzon Street, in Mayfair, London. On August 1, 2024, the police responded to calls about a suspected armed robbery at the bank, with eyewitness accounts suggesting that perpetrators may have arrived on motorbikes and fired shots.
Bank Al Muraqabah’s Plotline Vaguely Parallels a Real-life Case in London
Upon arriving at the Arab National Bank, the police recovered a suspected fire and arrested one man on suspicion of armed robbery. At the same time, the police taped off Curzon Street due to the safety risk, which raises additional parallels with the case in ‘Fuze.’ However, the major difference here is that the film’s heist happens in absolute secrecy. Additionally, Edgware Road is about two miles from Curzon Street, which makes it more likely that the Arab National Bank incident is not an actual inspiration for the plot. What gives Bank Al Muraqabah its potency as a setting is its connection to the bomb plotline, and it’s highly probable that the two ends of the story were constructed in parallel to complement each other rather than resemble any real-life case.
While Bank Al Muraqabah may not be a real location, it is brought to life practically, with the crew setting up cameras in and around London. The indoor bank vault sequences, in particular, were reportedly filmed inside a warehouse in Bow, East London, which gave the creative team all the more flexibility. While scenes involving Rahim’s neighborhood, where the bank is located, were lensed on Connaught Street in Tyburnia, London, we never see Rahim and the bank’s facade in the same shot. It’s possible that Al Muraqabah’s exterior design was filmed at a real location in the UK, but otherwise, its existence is largely fictional.
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