Malayakunju - wrapped in swaddling clothes

Malayakunju

2022, Malayalam

Sajimon Prabhakar - Director 

Stars - Fahadh Faasil, Rajisha Vijayan, Jafar Idukki

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In a powerful and mystical scene, Anikuttan is drowning in an underground pool of muddy water, while a natural coffin of mud delicately balances above him. Only a miracle can save him, and it comes in the form of his recently deceased father. 

Malayakunju could be seen as a survival thriller. But there is a great deal more than that in understanding the psychology of a once happy man living in his own self created purgatory. 

Some see his time buried under a landslide as a rebirth.  But I see his story as a grieving process, coming to grips with the realities of life, letting go of hate and anger, and finding hope and purpose again. This requires grieving, suffering, and crawling one's way out of depression and anxiety. This Fahadh does with such believability, we find ourselves feeling his fear, pain, and moments of utter hopelessness. 

Only Mr. Faasil can carry nearly 45 minutes on a screen focused solely on him.  There is no histrionic, no moments of screaming or great leaps of heroic strength. In eye movements and subtle facial expressions, he makes us know that, perhaps for every human being, there is only life or death, no in between. And for this to work there must be a higher purpose, which our hero finds in the cry of a little baby, the Savior of Man.