In the past, we often said that Korean movies really dared to make, but now we find that Indian movies are not inferior. Following the critical acclaim of "Jay Beam", which exposed the tragic suffering of India's low-caste people last year, there has recently been a large-scale Indian suspense movie "Thursday" on the Internet.
This time, Indian filmmakers have turned their critical perspective to the darker and more sensitive topic of Indian society – rape. The subtitles at the end of the film are shocking: since you started watching this film, according to statistics, 8 women have been raped on the mainland (India).
Why? The director told the reason through the heroine of the film: according to Indian official statistics, every 16 minutes in India, a woman is raped, as young as an 8-month-old baby girl to a 70-year-old woman. The film is 128 minutes long, which is exactly 8 16 minutes.
Female kindergarten teachers abducted 16 children
But what does the rape topic have to do with the film's story? Doesn't the title of the article prominently read "Kindergarten female teacher abducts 16 children"? Don't worry! This is where the director and screenwriter of this film excel:
A heavy and cruel social reality problem is skillfully told to the audience with a suspenseful and thrilling genre narrative. Although there is a sense of routine, the story is wonderful and fascinating.
The heroine, Nana, is a kindergarten teacher, young and beautiful, gentle and kind, whether it is children, parents, boyfriends and colleagues, they all like her, especially the children in her class, and they are more obedient to her.
Thursday was Naina's 30th birthday, and it happened that a little girl in the class, Niharika, was friday's birthday, and she decided to celebrate her birthday with the children on Thursday, and also told Niharika's mother to send a driver to bring the birthday cake.
No one expected that on Thursday, after Naina and other parents and colleagues had left, they secretly abducted 16 children in the class, and kidnapped the driver who came to deliver the cake and the assistant teacher who happened to return to the classroom to get something.
She then called the police and demanded $50 million to kill a child every hour. What is even more cruel is that because the police took the risk of taking rescue operations, Naina shot a child on the spot, all of which was broadcast live by the media...
Full of suspense, large-scale critical strength
At this point in the story, Naina's identity as a villain seems to have been nailed down and will never be able to wash away. But as Naina asks her appointed police officer, Javid Khan, to contact the Prime Minister of India, and she wants to negotiate face-to-face with the Prime Minister, viewers gradually discover that there must be something hidden in it.
The story and character setting of "Thursday" are very similar to the domestic suspense film "Manslaughter 2" that was screened in the Lunar New Year file last year. "Manslaughter 2" is adapted from the American police film "Imminent", and "Thursday" is definitely influenced by the film, even if it is not a remake.
That said, Thursday's suspense in detail is well created, and it is different from the previous two films. The motives of Naina's abduction of 16 children, I think you can guess:
It is related to the "rape" of the dark side of Indian society, but her appeal has gone beyond personal grievances to the level of wanting to change the ugly atmosphere of Indian society as a whole.
In the end, will Naina be able to achieve her goals? Did she really kill a child? Who was the real culprit who raped her that year? These suspense, Xiaobian will not spoil in the text, students who want to watch the film, please pay attention to the "Film and Television Weathervane" WeChat public account after sending a private message.
The fly in the ointment, shooting out is success
The biggest highlight of "Thursday" is the dare to touch this sensitive subject of self-exposed ugliness, and the courage to criticize the biggest dark side of Indian society. India is known in the global media as the "rape country" because of its high rape cases.
The "black bus gang rape case" in 2012 shocked the world and exposed the tolerance of Indian society and law for rapists and disregard for women's rights. Since then, Indian filmmakers have made a number of works that pursue women's rights, and this time "Thursday" has raised the protection of Indian women from rape to the height of changing the law.
The fly in the ointment is that while the film draws on the advantages of genre narrative, there are also flaws such as insufficient rationality of the story and characters, many details and problems, which are not as good as "Jay Beam".
First of all, Naina's extreme method of abducting 16 children to express her demands is not only insufficient motivation, but also too difficult to implement. For a weak woman who has not undergone any professional training, it is almost impossible to complete.
In addition, the police in the film are too incompetent to appear somewhat unreasonable. The heroine has been broadcasting the crime scene online through the media, and with today's network technology, it is easy to block the Internet and mobile phone signals at the scene, but the police have been helpless.
Second, the final outcome is too idealistic and unrealistic. How did Naina know that the Prime Minister would definitely have a face-to-face conversation with her? If the Prime Minister does not interview her, she will sacrifice herself in vain and be charged with terrorists.
However, in comparison, a film like "Thursday" can already be a success. The spirit of Indian filmmakers in daring to criticize reality is admirable.