Kannathil Muthamittal
Kannathil Muthamittal [2002]
Starring
Direction by
Language: Tamil
My friends have often told me that there is a stereotype with south Indian, especially Tamil, films. She told me that they are often incredibly overdramatic, and are unrealistic to the point where they lose a lot of its value. I thought that this movie would be quite relaxed, an uplifting thing that I could watch. The description described that of a girl's struggle with finding out that she was adopted, and the first few scenes were very serene. However, never would I have expected that the movie would bring such a domestic issue into one of high-stakes warfare.
The movie was just so unrealistic to the point where I was left guessing the entire time. In what world would an Tamil-speaking family go to Sri Lanka in the midst of a giant civil war? How did they escape various bombings? How did they survive a forced army evacuation in a small, rural village? How did the daughter in the film manage to live unscathed after running away several times? How did a nine-year-old girl's wants condition the family into doing the most dangerous things for her sake? At every second scene, there was some kind of melodrama: whether it be landmines, or guerilla warfare, gun violence, death.
I understand that people watch action films like this for an escape, and some people really appreciate the value of coincidences and wildly unrealistic scenarios. However, I am the complete opposite. I tend to watch movies that, even if unrealistic, have logical plots. This movie in that sense flew completely over my head. I might as well have just watched James Bond.
I don't know if this movie was supposed to act as a metaphor: does the quest for true identity overcome the threat of very real violence? Over come the barriers between languages, cultures, warzones? This idea could have been executed in a very different way, where the yearning for a lost identity was done more artistically, in a more poignant way. All the emotional value, in my opinion was concentrated in the final 15 minutes of the movie, and so the pacing was way off. I feel like this movie was not as compelling as it could be.
One other big issue about the movie was the music. I thought Hindi-language films were placed oddly, but the songs in this movie had this effect on a whole other level! It was almost as if the music director picked scenes out of a hat and places songs at those points. It was a bit of a disaster. The main family would be sitting at their home in urban Chennai, and would at the drop of a hat be transported to some rural, scenic beach location with waterfalls. Was it again some form of escapism? I don't know.
There is a reason why, when audiences think of India, they think of Hindi-language films. They make sense! I love south Indian culture: the traditions, the music, the culture, and if those elements had been integrated into the film, I would have really enjoyed watching this. However, I just have to hope that the Tamil film industry has made some serious strides since 2002, because this was a train wreck.
2/10
