You are left with a ‘what did I just see? And why’ feeling. The problem with it is that, apart from the story not flowing smoothly (pun absolutely not intended), the character that is supposed to evoke sympathy and a self-hatred for our bourgeois attitudes, doesn’t do that.
The story about the oppression of manual scavengers is overly graphic and is likely to leave you with a stomach churning feel and to minimise the effect, it is shot in b/w. Prajapathike Thooran Mutti by Jithin Issac Thomas definitely stirs you, but not necessarily in a pleasant manner.
While these three names raise our expectations and the filmmaking is the most professional in this one, the story fails to really stir us. But once, after Dhanu accompanies Baby and his nephew on an evening out for a drink, she is faced with her mistress’s wrath and the old couple are forced to confront the bleakness of their future at this stage of their lives. Dhanu, played by Rohini, is a maid hired to help out in the house and with Baby. His wife, on the other hand, seems to have hit her stride with their kids married and gone, and runs a successful business in homemade pickles and chips. Baby George, played by Joju, is now retired and is affected with the early signs of dementia and lifestyle ailments, that leaves him feeling restricted in his movements and food. Jeo Baby, who comes off as quite a natural actor in Ration, has written and directed the next film, Old Age Home, featuring Joju George and Rohini, in important roles. It could have made an excellent social commentary, but somehow the story isn’t tied together compellingly and convincingly enough. The cordial and peaceful relationship between lower and upper middle class neighbours looks to get disturbed over a simple misunderstanding over some expensive seer fish. It’s not a flawless film and it does stretch out, but it gets points for showcasing this subject.įrancies Louis’s Ration comes next and - like the subsequent two films - is a bit slipshod and not very clear on what it wishes to convey. Srindaa, who plays the lead role, is fabulous with her uninhabited body language, her comic timing and the pathos she brings to the role. Kunjila, using some documentary-style commentary in parts, captures the bond among the women and hits us with the seriousness and the frustrations of this basic need with humour, straight-talk and a cameo by P Viji, who initiated the real-life protest in 2009. In fact, it whets our appetite for the treat that is Kunjila Mascillamani’s Asanghadithar, a charming telling of the struggle of sales girls on Kozhikode’s SM street to get access to toilet facilities.
The film raises some good points that most youth will identify with and is a good opening film. Rajisha plays sensible, youthful Geethu with verve and is ably supported by the other actors.
And she’s not a hell-raising rebel she has just learnt from the mistakes of others and doesn’t want to repeat them.
The first film - Akhil Anilkumar’s Geethu Unchained - is about Geethu, played by Rajisha Vijayan, trying to break free from society’s prying eyes and rules, and trying to teach her family to do the same. Because apart from being a very mixed bag in terms of the quality of the story, storytelling and filmmaking, this supposed central idea also is a bit of a stretch.Īll five films are based more or less on social issues. Freedom Fight is supposedly based on the idea of freedoms, but if that weren’t the title of the five-film anthology, the viewer wouldn’t figure this out to be the unifying theme. Review: Perhaps there is a sense that audiences might be feeling some content fatigue, and so filmmakers are presenting anthology films that attempt to focus on one theme, while offering a range of stories in different styles. Story: From a young woman looking to break free, to an old couple trying to for the same