Movie Review - കെട്ട്യോളാണെൻ്റെ മാലാഖ

മലയാളം സിനിമയിൽ പണ്ട് ഒരു popular genre ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. അതായത് തന്നിഷ്ടക്കാരിയായ ഒരു സ്ത്രീ. Fashionable dress ധരിക്കും, kitty parties പോകും, ഇടയ്ക്ക് അല്പം Feminism പറയും. പക്ഷേ climax ൽ ഭർത്താവ് ചെകിട്ടത്ത് ഒരടി കൊടുക്കുന്നതോടെ 'നന്നാവും'.

ഇത്തരം Regressive frame ൽ നിന്നു മലയാള സിനിമ ചെറിയ കാലയളവിൽ ബഹുദൂരം സഞ്ചരിച്ചു എന്നു നമുക്ക് ധൈര്യമായി പറയാം. അതും 'കെട്ട്യോളാണെന്റെ മാലാഖ'  കാണുമ്പോൾ വളരെ ഉറപ്പിച്ചു പറയാം.

ഒരു Patriarchial and claustrophobic agrarian Community ടെ കഥ ഒരു 'വരത്തന്റെ ' കണ്ണുകളിൽ കൂടി പറഞ്ഞ കഥയായിരുന്നു വരത്തൻ. എന്നാൽ ഈ സിനിമ കുറച്ചു കൂടെ aesthetic and realistic ആയി തോന്നി. The movie also showed how a innocent and innocuous young guy can be capable of violence and rape.

The director exhibited his capability in subtley and aesthetically telling a few things to the Malayali audience. Especially the plight of a youngster in his total sex illiteracy even though he was brought up in a family consisting of four sisters. There was also this minor, parallel plot of a father trying to 'secure' the future of his daughter by sending her off to nursing course.

I'm not plunging into any further post mortem on the technical or creative side of the movie except that it is a very good piece of work. But it will be unfair on my part of I don't mention a few things related to the ideology which I found to be slightly unscientific and regressive.

The protagonist is, rather happily, brought up in a religious and rigid social setup in a agrarian society where the rules are governed by the dictats of religious beliefs. The irony is even when he belongs to a close knit community, they fail to address his basic sexual insecurity when he confides it openly.

The incident, marital rape, which is center of the movie occurs in the same period when a 'family retreat' is being held at the church.

My problem is the path through which the director takes the issue from there on. The boldness in presenting such a subject gives way to religious dogma and rhetorism. How does a woman find solution in the very social setup that abuse her? Rather than a solution it is the normalization of abuse. Every religion survives by promoting patriarchal hegemony. Women are taught to 'adjust' (the normalized term for bearing torment).

Cinema, as a progressive medium, should not promote regressive ideology in any form.