The Hindu : Finnish movie steals the show

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 10, 2002

National

National

Finnish movie steals the show

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI OCT. 9 . The International Film Festival of India will close tomorrow with the highly acclaimed Finnish movie, Aki Kaurismaki's "The Man Without A Past''.

One of the favourites at Cannes last May, critics there described the work as "sublime, comic, meditative, liberating and philosophical''.

Indeed, "The Man Without A Past'' is all this, and, maybe much more. Perhaps Kaurismaki's best work till date, this film is also arguably this Festival's most important, in a basket of cinema that has been largely uninspiring. The Festival's freshers and old-timers generally agreed that this year would rank as one of the worst as far as selections go. Kaurismaki's restrained and highly artistic creation could perhaps be an important redeeming feature that may well let the Festival guests go home with some satisfaction.

It does go to Kaurismaki's credit and experience that he was able to make a film so simple and yet so profound. In any case, of all his works, this is the most positive, the most humourous and the brightest by far.

The hero, played by a Kaurismaki regular, Markku Peltola, arrives in Helsinki, sits on a bench and is promptly mugged. He loses his memory, is even given up for dead in the hospital, but comes out. He cannot, of course, remember, who he is, but is taken in by the people, who live on the social fringes. Here he finds compassion and, finally, love from a Salvation Army worker.

The story may appear feather-light, but Kaurismaki's social concern is for real, and so is his critique of a callous economic system. And, finally, the gags are endearingly relishable.

The Festival's some other delights were Francis Veber's "The Closet", a hilarious French picture that looks at seemingly gay relationships, Jun Ichikawa's "Tokyo Marigold'' (Japan) which examines the desperation of being lonely, T.V. Chandran's "Dany'' (Malayalam) that reflects on a man's painful isolation, and Girish Kasaravalli's "Dweepa'' (Kannada), where water and rain provide a poetic backdrop for a powerful anti-Nature message.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National