Jai Bhim and other musings

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 I watched Jai Bhim and was really moved. Scenes are very violent and brutal and I haven't seen anything like this in a long time. I think it has affected me because I am really feeling low and my chest and back really hurt. 

Suriya has that trusted strength and power that one finds very reassuring in movies like this. He is the lawyer who represents the tribal's wife in the landmark Habeus Corpus case. He lives by himself, does his own house work, and in the initial scenes, you see that he understands that anybody's fight for justice, especially the marginalized group, is a fight for dignity. He tells the judge in one scene that according to a Supreme Court order, a person should not be handcuffed during trial. I like the quiet build-up of his personal through these tiny details. Of course, the tropes of rousing music, slow-motions, dialogues with a punch, etc. are all there. But Suriya himself is quiet. His eyes are quiet. His body language is quiet. I won't go on about him because he is good. But the wife of the tribal...she just shines. I mean, all of them are stellar - the husband, the other villagers who kill and eat rats, pray to the Goddess, dance at weddings and funerals, and live their lives with a quiet nobility that the shame of day-to-day exploitation can't touch. But the actress who plays Sangeni is just.so.good!

First of all, she is so so charming and innocent. And what a performance! Yes, there are those tremendous scenes where she sees her husband beaten and dragged into jail or she declines money for dropping the case. She's great in those. But what I particularly found terrific are the scenes in the beginning where she is out in the fields with her husband, dreaming of a brick house. There are intimate moments between the two - not just physical, conjugal intimacy. But this uneducated woman shares the strength of partnership with her husband that just points to a blessed soul. 

I am trying really hard to hold on to the message of love and hope in the film because the torture scenes of putting chilli paste and powder in eyes, etc. is...

Now I won't get sleep tonight. But it was worth it. 

Comments

See if I care.... said…
I really liked this movie too. I thought the legal arguments could have done with a bit more realism and the defense lawyers could have been less of a caricature. But the actors, even the corrupt cops, shone. I particularly also liked the whole internal struggle for the cop Perumalsamy. As you pointed out, pretty much all the actors were very good and the female lead was superb.
4:26 AM
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