IFFK 2008 – Day 6

Gospel According to Maradona and a Memorable Photograph

Today also I had to satisfy with just two films, or to be precise one film and one documentary. I had decided on watching Tokyo Sonata in New Theatre, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa – not just because of that famous and irresistible (to filmgoers) surname, but also because it was recommended by a number of experts. But a review in today’s Kerala Kaumudi, about the film The Photograph, convinced me to change my plans. The report stated that the film has ended the reviewer’s days long search for “the” film of IFFK 2008. So, instead of turning right from Thampannoor bus stand I turned left to Remya Theatre.

The Photograph, directed by Nan T. Achnas, is a brilliant and classy film, so far the best I have seen in the competition section. It portrays the lives of a prostitute who is struggling to find enough money to raise her daughter and to provide medical treatment to her aging mother and an old emotionless photographer. The paths of their lives meet when she becomes his tenant. He is probably the most unfortunate photographer in the world – and she the most unfortunate mother. In his youth he learns some people are killed in a train accident and starts taking picture of the dead bodies. There are only broken limbs and other body parts. After a few clicks he realizes that the dead are his own wife and children. And he was on his way after abusing and abandoning them. He lives the remaining of his life in that guilty conscious.

But it is not a tearjerker as the scale of tragedy indicates. It is a pleasant and “sunny” movie. Excellent, and non-intrusive, photography and music are the highlights of the movie. Beautiful frames bombard you in incredible frequency. The pace of the movie is also just right. The fingerprints of a person who knows the secret of filmmaking are very much evident on each frame.

After the movie I dribbled through the crowds of Overbridge to Kripa Theatre to watch Emir Kusturica’s documentary Maradona. A genius on another genius. Considering the No Smoking band background of the director, it is predictably filled with lively music as with the best of goals of Maradona. It is like 20-20 (I mean the Malayalam movie) of world politics, past and present: Fidel Castro, George Bush, Hugo Chavez, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, and Evo Morales make appearances. The documentary is mostly based on casual talks between the footballer and the director at various locations and countries.

In the documentary Maradona’s life is analyzed on various angles as a teenage prodigy, successful footballer, drug addict and an activist. Like the films of Kusturica, the documentary also provides a number of hilarious moments. There is a religion called the Church of Maradona. It has a peculiar way of baptism: by scoring a hand of god goal! Also, there is a scene in which stripping women in dance bars complain that people stop watching them when Maradona’s goals appear on television.

There are several quotable quotes with Maradona’s pungent humor. This one about the FIFA presidents is what appeared best to me: “Havalanche [former president] was an arms dealer. Blatter [current president] sells bullets”. Also, he became very emotional when he says that he is jealous of his wife because she could spend more time with the children. Also, he says that he would have been a better player if not for his habit of taking cocaine. (But how can one play better?)

The documentary also contains a number of stunning goals scored by the most famous left foot of soccer and one with the fist. Animations – in which Maradona toying with Western leaders – and scenes from several movies of Kasturica are interspersed to the narrative to enliven the documentary.