Jallikattu: Visually stunning thriller explores the brutality of man

People sleeping, clock ticking, a butcher chopping meat, a cop beating his wife, people getting slapped, more meat being cut, money being exchanged and knives cutting through more meat. 

This is the opening scene of Malayalam language crime-drama film "Jallikattu", which is both strangely calming and eerie - a sneak peak of the awaiting chaos. The scene's background score melted in with the opening premises - making us witness the lives of the myriad villagers in a fast-paced montage. 

Within the next 10 minutes of the film, a buffalo escapes from the butcher, bringing about an escalation of violence and depravity that no one in the village foresees. These first 10 minutes set up the complex web of characters and storylines that are going to be explored and torn apart throughout the film's ensuing 80 minutes. 

In theory, "Jallikattu" is the controversial bull-taming sport that involves aggressive confrontation between cattle and humans which is popular in India's Tamil Nadu. But Lijo Jose Pellissery's "Jallikattu" is an apocalyptic cinematic ride through hell that reveals the worst of mankind and the best that cinema has to offer.

The movie opens with an ambient score by Prashant Pillai and a rapid-fire assembly by cinematographer Girish Gangadharan and editor Deepu Joseph. We are introduced to the morning routines of a remote Kerala village and the drama that exists behind closed doors.

Kaalan Varkey (Chemban Vinod Jose) is a buffalo butcher, whom the entire village relies on for fresh meat. Resulting from vengeance, the butcher's latest buffalo escapes and runs amok through fields, plantations and human habitations. 

The buffalo - a rampaging metaphor - clearly has no prejudice as it tramples across the property of farmers, business owners and the poor alike, infuriating everyone in its wake. Fuelled by old grudges and petty squabbles, the villagers become obsessed with catching the errant animal.

And so, every man in the village and its surroundings arm themselves to fight the buffalo; some for glory, some to steal meat and others because they simply want to be inside the craziness.

The mob is led by the brutal Kuttachan (Sabumon Abdusamad) and his nemesis, the sly Antony (Antony Varghese). Both the actors' performance was commendable. 

Pellissery's film relishes the nerve-racking chaos that ensues when hundreds of men begin to act like beasts, shouting, screaming and growling out words at each other, many of them simultaneously using this battle as an outlet to vent other simmering internal struggles. What begins as a normal day turns into a near-apocalyptic war zone that lays bare the town's stifling patriarchy and the folly of man's destructive ego. The men in the wild chase are arguably more like an animal than the buffalo itself. 

All of this comes to a head in Jallikattu's harrowing climax - a twenty minute sequence of bodies flying, blood spurting and the shouts of the men becoming distorted enough to resemble the screeches of some ancient creatures. 

The storyline does not concentrate on a singular theme but has a series of stories stacked together in harmony - each infusing some kind of life into the other. 

There is Antony (Antony Varghese, exuding raw, vigorous power) who is unaffected by the chaos that ensues. There are the authorities who parade the village trumpeting about the possible animal menace. There's the father of a soon-to-be-engaged girl who is worried about the menu that is to contain good quality beef. The girl herself has certain plans to execute. 

This way, Pellissery captures the everydayness of an ordinary Kerala village with stupendous flair as he works around a screenplay by S Hareesh and R Jayakumar (based on Hareesh's short story "Maoist") that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Shot by Ganesh Gangadharan, Jallikattu is a visually overpowering feature. The key story elements, decidedly, are too many in number. You blink an eye and a detail stands missed. Same goes for the frame transitions which are very swift. 

Nevertheless, the camerawork during the most action-packed sequences swaggers with a sense of bravado, especially the stunning drone shots that capture the scope of the turmoil.

But while the location work is colorful and vivid, the characters are not. There aretoo many characters and small-storylines that it is almost impossible to count, making the slim 90 minute running time feel enormously dense. 

Another standout credit is Renganaath Ravee's startling sound design, a skin-crawling sampling of natural sounds, drumbeats and the like that underlie the action like a cave man's heartbeat.

The movie is overwhelmed with its numerous characters, plot-lines and abrasive sound design - dense with the near-constant shouts of men and percussive. And yet, it is an unmistakable example of in-your-face-filmmaking. 

This is why "Jallikattu" was considered as a powerful submission by India for Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards. Though it is out of the race now, the film is appreciated by many juries. The movie is available for streaming on Amazon Prime. 

The angry buffalo, at no point, comes across as a villain in the movie. Verbal insults, punches and bloodshed in the film are not caused by the beast but by humans - showing the film's nihilistic message of violence.

As the ending credits roll, we are reminded of "Lord of the Flies", the novel by Nobel-winning British author William Golding. More specifically, it depicts the immortal lines by Simon amid a search for "beastie" on the island: "Maybe there is a beast.....Maybe it is only us."