Mai avrei pensato che un film di genere politico-sociale così spartano potesse essere coinvolgente. Pada demolisce parecchi luoghi comuni. Sì, un film di genere politico-sociale può trasmettere il suo messaggio, forte e chiaro, senza essere didascalico o pedante. Sì, un film spartano privo di set patinati, personaggi eroici, sequenze d'azione e colpi di scena può comunque avvincere lo spettatore, e quindi intrattenere. Ma Pada offre molto di più. Una rappresentazione talmente aderente alla realtà che sembra di essere presenti agli eventi. Una sceneggiatura incontaminata e una regia limpida. Una narrazione naturale che è vita. Personaggi concreti, anzi, persone. E interpretazioni oneste - Prakash Raj spicca per calma e autorevolezza. Non ci sono buoni, non ci sono cattivi. Ci sono vittime. C'è un'ingiustizia. C'è una contrapposizione fra due schieramenti. Ma tutti i personaggi sono lodevolmente ragionevoli e pacati. Mai minacciosi o arroganti.
Pada è un prodotto curato. In modo astuto denuncia un sopruso legalizzato con i toni avvincenti di un thriller misurato e ben fatto. Più che un film, una scuola di cinema. Anche se l'approccio documentaristico a tratti nuoce all'emotività.
TRAMA
Pada racconta un fatto realmente accaduto in Kerala nel 1996. Quattro attivisti membri del movimento Ayyankali Pada tennero in ostaggio un funzionario amministrativo per dieci ore nel suo ufficio. In cambio del rilascio, chiesero al governo statale di ritirare gli emendamenti limitativi apportati alla legge del 1975 che prevedeva la restituzione alle popolazioni tribali delle terre confiscate dopo il 1960.
RECENSIONI
The Hindu:
'The script lands straight into the hostage situation without wasting much time for the set up. Inside, it is a relentless shift between various tense situations, giving no respite to the audience. (...) Kamal is sure of the material he is working with, be it in the political sense or the technical sense. The background research to get right the little details from that day is also evident. The fictional elements or the cinematic liberties that he takes do not take away anything from the core issue that the film raises. But what he achieves with the material has much to do with the seamless coming together of Vishnu Vijay’s music, Shan Mohammed’s editing and Sameer Tahir’s cinematography. One drawback may be the presence of too many actors who do not have a standout role, especially that of Shine Tom Chacko. (...) Pada is a sympathetic portrayal of the justified anger of the oppressed'.
S.R. Praveen, 12.03.22
Film Companion:
'With its docu-drama treatment, the day of this protest comes alive through the minutest of details without it ever feeling dry or impersonal. This is achieved by making the film's central characters feel human and relatable, unlike the unapproachable activists/revolutionaries similar films would paint them to be. (...) It's the specificity of its writing that keeps it engaging, even when some scenes could have played like empty exposition. (...) With this deftness in treatment and a set of great performances in totality, Pada tells the story of a movement without sounding like pamphleteering'.
Vishal Menon, 15.03.22
Cinema Hindi: *** 1/2
Punto di forza: regia, sceneggiatura, interpretazioni.
Punto debole: un po' asettico. Le battute suddivise equamente fra i quattro militanti sembrano frutto di un calcolo matematico - va bene la democrazia, ma possibile che nessuno di loro possa pronunciare un intero breve discorso tutto da solo? Sprecare Shine Tom Chacko mi indigna.
SCHEDA DEL FILM
Cast:
* Kunchacko Boban - Rakesh
* Joju George - Aravindan
* Vinayakan - Balu
* Dileesh Pothan - Kutty
* Prakash Raj - Chief Secretary
* Arjun Radhakrishnan - collector
* Shine Tom Chacko - addetto alla sicurezza
Sceneggiatura e regia: Kamal K.M.
Colonna sonora: Vishnu Vijay
Fotografia: Sameer Thahir
Montaggio: Shan Mohammed
Lingua: malayalam
Traduzione del titolo: army
Anno: 2022
RASSEGNA STAMPA
* An interview with ‘Pada’ filmmaker Kamal K.M., Dipankar Sarkar, Vague Visages, 11 maggio 2022:
'Can you discuss your process of writing and the extensive research that brings a raw immediacy to your screenplay? (...)
The premise of the film is based on a real event. Here, I had started my writing process during the research. I could not not write the script depending on my imagination. The research helped me to create the drama during the process of writing. So, the writing and research process were happening simultaneously. I met the real life individuals who were the principal characters of my film, and I took details from each of their personal experiences and added to the overall structure of the script. So, everybody’s perspective and memories were contributing to the script in that sense. (...) Pada is also an actual event depicted as a live reality to the audience. (...)
Could you talk about the treatment of your film?
The mise-en-scène of the film arises from my personal experience on this event that had happened in 1996 in Kerala. At that time, I was a student of journalism and curiosity left an impression on my mind. The film begins and ends with a television interview along with the documentation of the event that has happened in the history of journalism in Kerala. So, it is a kind of journalistic tribute to the incident, covering all kinds of perspectives on the theme of displacement of Adivasis in Kerala. When I was writing the screenplay, I could see that the root of this story was going from the television’s point of view to one character and then to another and another. Through this progression, the story of the film was also moving forward. That is how I had designed the treatment of the film, which is also the crux of the mise-en-scène. (...)
In Pada, the shots are composed in such a way that it depicts the grim and tense mood of the film and admirably captures the mellowed moments with ease. So, what sort of visual design did you and your cinematographer, Sameer Thahir, plan before shooting?
I had conceived the visual design of the film along with my cinematographer Sameer Thahir and my direction team. We had envisioned the entire story to enact out [and] manifest as a thriller. There should be a certain kind of curiosity amongst the viewers about what is going to happen next in the film. I wanted to underline that live experience. I wanted to communicate a certain experience in the film without the dialogues from the actors. So, me and my team tried to create it as a live experience as if we were participating in the event, which was also the crux of the visual design of the film. For me, the film is about sensitivity, and it is due to the sensitivity that the protagonist questions the system. So, the sensitivity becomes part of the spirit of the visual design. Hence I thought of creating a certain kind of solidarity and bonding with the event that is being narrated on the screen.
The editing of the film does not slacken the pace and brings a subdued sense of drama within the scenes. Share the process. (...)
We wanted to end the film in a very stark way as well, like a documentary. That was a challenge because this kind of resolution is not in vogue with the mainstream format. So, Shan [Mohammed] - with his dexterity - put together the end sequence of the film, where the music had also helped in bringing out the dramatic momentum of the film. (...)
The climax of Pada incorporates real life footage of the incident as well as the atrocities meted out to the people of the marginalized community. So, under the prevalent atmosphere of intolerance within our nation, how important do you think that a film like Pada can make us politically aware?
At present, we can feel the air of intolerance in our society, as well as [in our] nation, when we talk about the political atmosphere and its impact on cinema. Since 2014, when the new central rule has started in India, there [has been] no help [given] to filmmakers from government organizations. (...) We have a cinema culture and heritage of our country. So, today I am making a film under such a level of intolerance, and I am aware of it. So, through my film, I push this level of intolerance to a point and create a kind of discussion around the film to help our society move forward in the process. When we understand how films add to the awareness of the society, then we do not have to be afraid as a filmmaker to experiment with any content or form. There are lots of viewers out there waiting for every new expression - and if they like it, they will be in solidarity with us. History has given us many such examples'.
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