Writer (2021) – Movie Review | Strong Tamil Debut Film | Samuthirakani
It’s out on OTT now. So I have watched it.
Servus Freunde,
my name is Jimmy Cage and when I did
my Top 5 Best Tamil Movies of 2021 list
there were a few movies that I still
hadn’t seen at that point. MAADATHY,
which I have seen since then and my review for it
is already out for patrons and YouTube members,
ROCKY, which I think is still not yet
available on streaming and the one I’m
talking about today. WRITER marks the directorial
debut of Franklin Jacob, who also wrote the film.
It’s a very grounded, very realistic drama with
a strong social message. The main story revolves
around a young and innocent student from the
Dalit caste, who is illegally held captive and
framed by the corrupt police. A setting like this
and the themes of police brutality, corruption,
oppression and caste are quite common in Indian
Cinema and they are of course rightfully addressed
in many movies. But there’s also the risk of
having seen stuff like this too many times before
or falling into the trap of being too simplistic,
melodramatic or preachy. But I think WRITER’s
biggest asset and what distinguishes it from other
works, is its unusual and very strong protagonist.
WRITER is told
police man. Not someone who has just joined the
force and fights against its wrongdoings, but
someone who has been part of the system for about
thirty years. Samuthirakani, who I think looks
a little bit like Satyajit Ray, plays Thangaraj,
who has a desk job at the police. He’s a writer,
doing the text work, which also means taking care,
that the police looks as good as possible. At the
beginning of the movie, he is ordered to lower the
crime rate a little bit and in order to do that
he works his way around some pending cases and
making sure that they get revolved somehow. And
needless to say, that happens rather pragmatically
by bending the law and the truth. At the beginning
of the movie, I got a little TRANING DAY vibe,
because Thangaraj also has a young apprentice at
his side, showing him how the system really works.
But unlike Denzel Washington’s character,
Thangaraj is not our antagonist, but actually
a quite sympathetic protagonist. He’s doing
things that aren’t right, but he’s no bad guy.
And he’s doing things that are very admirable,
like trying to establish a police union,
yet he’s no hero either. And I think in that lies
the movie’s strength. Thangaraj feels like a real
human being. He has his flaws, but he also has
a moral compass and that compass gets heavily
challenged and transformed throughout the movie,
when he gets entangled in that case regarding
the young, innocent man, who is held captive
by the police. Samuthirakani is great in the
role and I almost wished the movie would’ve
been even more focused on his perspective,
because there are times when we do change to other
characters. Which also works okay, but it could’ve
been even stronger and more engaging. I think the
movie works best, if we find out stuff and explore
situations from his point of view, instead of
doing the usual flashbacks. There are some really
strong moments in those flashbacks. For example,
a moment with a horse, that reminded me of my
favorite Indian movie from last year – KARNAN.
But the placements of those flashbacks also feel a
bit jarring. Franklin Jacob’s direction is mostly
quite good. He tells his story in a grounded, but
sometimes also quite riveting fashion and he also
finds ways of incorporating the slightest touch of
levity into his film as well. Which mostly happens
through the character of Raja. There’s obviously
a lot of tragedy in WRITER, but there are also
some instances, when the movie is on the verge
of getting a little bit melodramatic, when that
notion or “danger” is countered by something.
For example, is there a scene in which the
brother of the accused is openly lamenting
and his acquaintance is criticizing him for making
a scene. It’s small things like that that adds to
the believability. Which helps a lot in a movie
that clearly wants to address a certain issue.
Or several issues. Early on Thangaraj
says something that I found very profound.
He tells this new, young police man, that the
police have been founded to keep people in check,
so that they didn’t act against the British
oppressors. The police were founded as a means to
enforce the will of the powerful and he continues
by saying that it has been this way ever since.
Which isn’t just true for India, but also very
much reminded me of the situation in the United
States and how the problems are systemic and
not just an issue of a few bad people. At this
point I have seen a lot of movies that deal
with caste issues and yet I was again baffled
by the sheer existence of something like a “caste
certificate”, which is used by people in power to
discriminate others. Why does a document like
a caste certificate even exist if the caste
system has officially abolished decades
ago? I mean I know that it unfortunately
is still prevalent today but why is there
still something like a caste certificate?
Anyway, I think WRITER does a good job showing
that it’s a whole system that’s at fault.
Which is also why I think the movie is the
weakest when it overdramatizes its antagonists.
The police superintendent comes across as a bit
too comical for this film and I also think the
actor is overdoing it a little bit. I also think
the movie as a whole is maybe a bit too ambitious
for its own good. Not all story developments truly
worked for me. Some felt a bit unnecessary and not
all the parts are coming together in an organic
way. For example, I’m not sure if it really needed
this late flashback with the young woman. I know
that it’s all connected but I think I would’ve
liked it even more if the young, innocent man was
just a random scapegoat and not part of a bigger
cover-up. That young man by the way is named
Devakumar and he is played by Hari Krishnan,
who is great in the role. I mean he doesn’t
have to do as much as Samuthirakani,
but you feel for him and the movie is doing a good
job depicting that helplessness and fear. I also
noticed that there were several scenes in which
characters openly address that they are afraid
or are getting afraid, because the situation might
turn on them or their loved ones and it gave the
film a very honest feeling I think. I also knew
that I have seen Hari Krishnan before and when
I looked it up I was very surprised because he
looked so very different in Pa. Ranjith’s MADRAS,
in which he played the very flamboyant character
of Johnny. When Deniz and I reviewed MADRAS,
we unfortunately totally forgot to mention him.
So, I want to at least try to make up by saying
that he’s fantastic in MADRAS as well. He had his
first role in the 2012 film ATTAKATHI, which was
also the directorial debut by Pa. Ranjith, who
has also produced and is presenting WRITER. So in German I’d say:
I give WRITER 7 out of 10. It’s
more like 6.7 but I don’t do that.
Alright, that’s it. Like always, comment below
and let me know what you think about WRITER.
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