MAADATHY, AN UNFAIRY TALE (2019)
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| Critic No. 221 |
Written by: Leena Manimekalai, Rafiq Ismail, Yavanika Sriram
Produced by: Karuvachy Films, Golden Ratio Films
Casts: Semmalar Annam, Ajmina Kassim, Patrick Raj
Language: Tamil
Genre: Drama
Music: Karthik Raja
SYNOPSIS:
This film is a tale about a young girl, Yosana (Ajmina Kassim) who grows up in the slave caste group, becoming immortalized as their locality, Maadathy.
REVIEW:
Sudalai (Arul Kumar), Veni (Semmalar), and Yosana (Ajmina Kassim) are a family of three belonging to a caste that is forced into washing blood-stained menstrual cloth and wraps of corpses for a living. Yosana (Ajmina Kasim) is a free-spirited young girl who loves to explore in the wild and admire the beauty of nature, which is often disliked by her mother. This ‘unseeable’ community has an urgency to reach home before some villager comes across them, which often will invite danger and insults to them.
Leena speaks through her exquisitely filmed nature shots that not only gradually speaks the arc of the film and the coming of age factor of Yosana, but it also becomes a silent spectator and an unwilling participant of caste violence that is always lurking. It was almost like watching a slow-paced horror film where the filmmaker stages scenes of characters in their daily self with an unsettling tension that always seems to be hovering over them. There is also an artfully shot rousing sequence of female desire in Maadathy, which unveils the power of why the female gaze in cinema is refreshing and beautifully sensitive.
The violence and oppression inserted through the daily chores of the ‘unseeables’ is even scarier to watch as it is shown in a matter-of-fact manner. At one instance, after Yosana’s mother is abused, she takes out her rage on the clothes she washes, maniacally beating them on the washing rocks which eventually tears them. Leena scatters the silent symbolic storytelling which effectively pricks your heart at many moments.
Caste oppression aside, the film also talks about how patriarchal society worsens the entire situation, making the women more vulnerable to catastrophic outcomes. Slowly we begin to understand why men like Sudalai and his father Maadan are able to make peace with what life has thrown at them and go on about their routine, unlike Yosana and Veni who have no other choice but to be on guard at all times. What if they let their guard down? - they turn into Gods.
The cast ensemble delivers a textbook performance in which Karthik Raja’s subtle but hunting music gradually elevates the film’s texture and emotions. The 3 cinematographers, Jeff Dolden, Kathik Muthukumar, and Abinandhan Ramanujam bring out the visual poetry of Leena’s mind so effectively and arrests us with their earnest work. Each shot was like an expensive painting. By the end of the film, when you are at the edge of your seat with tears rolling from your eyes, you will be slapped with the realization of the statement that the film opens with:
Behind each one of our million subaltern deities, there is a tale of oppression.
You can’t do much but to thank the makers for putting a strong statement through the art of film and hope that this nightmare stops.
VERDICT:
‘Maadathy’ is an absorbing tragedy drama that brutally lays out the pain of caste discrimination intersected with misogyny, with devastating honesty and top-class visual storytelling.
CELLULOID METER- 4.5/5:
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