Content material warning: this weblog put up talks about sexual assault.
There are various causes I may give to observe Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger. I may gush about its sweeping cinematography and the way deeply it roots the viewer within the contrasting pastoral landscapes and concrete environments of Jharkhand, India. In the identical breath, I may argue that though the movie takes place in India, it’s truly fairly common. The truth that Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel signed on as govt producers would possibly strengthen that argument. However then we’d fumble as a result of it’s at this exact second that you just’ll most likely ask what the movie is about, and I gained’t be capable to lie.
To Kill a Tiger follows a father’s agonizing battle as he defies his personal village neighborhood to hunt justice for his 13-year-old daughter, who was sexually assaulted by three grownup males from the identical city. That alone might discourage you as a result of the subject material is undeniably tough, even when it’s vital.
When a movie poses this type of dilemma, I wish to give attention to its emotional centre, and in To Kill a Tiger, that core rests with the daddy, Ranjit. Whereas our manner into this story is thru the daddy, the movie additionally doesn’t let his expertise supersede his daughter’s. If something, Ranjit’s struggle serves to emphasise simply how a lot collateral harm sexual assault causes.
Firstly, it utterly transforms his daughter, who turns into extremely unhappy and withdrawn, each at house and socially. Then it makes her mom, father and siblings really feel responsible and completely helpless. Quickly after, it creates huge divides inside the village. However the suggestion that Ranjit’s daughter ought to marry one in all her attackers—it’s mentioned nobody else would marry her now that she’s sullied—is the final straw.
To Kill a Tiger, Nisha Pahuja, offered by the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada
It’s no small factor that Ranjit takes authorized motion towards his daughter’s attackers, who’re males he is aware of. In doing this, he and his whole household face obscene ostracization, isolation and vilification. Not solely does a lot of the village disagree together with his determination to show this over to the courts, a lot of them—men and women alike—facet with the assailants.
The villagers both deny {that a} sexual assault even occurred or defend the assailants, saying they made a mistake and must be forgiven, whereas concurrently suggesting that the kid bears some duty due to what she may need worn or how she may need behaved.
So when Ranjit resolves to not hold the matter inside the confines of his neighborhood—going towards the pleas of his ward and village chief—it comes at a fantastic price to himself and his household. He loses most of his allies within the village, and his sole help system consists of outsider gender activists, who solely go to him sometimes whereas the case is ongoing however can’t present fixed safety. All this comes with no assure that the assailants might be discovered responsible or that his neighborhood ties will ultimately be restored.
Regardless of Ranjit’s bravery all through the authorized case, the entire thing wears on him as nicely. He loses hope on a lot of events. He turns to consuming closely over the course of some weeks, even lacking a court docket appointment. However he picks himself again up by specializing in his daughter and the way essential that is for her.
He additionally is aware of that as a person, it sends a major message to everybody round him that he’s so staunchly defending his daughter. Ranjit’s up towards big odds, and there’s probability he and his daughter will lose (a tragic final result that will be simply as possible anyplace else on the planet).
However the battle can also be the place you’ll discover the silver lining. Ranjit doesn’t encourage hope simply because he retains combating; he’s emblematic of systemic modifications in attitudes in the direction of girls and women. The gender activists who assist him all through the case are men and women, and so they all have an articulate and developed perspective on gender fairness. They’ve the vocabulary they should construct a greater future, and so they’re instructing it to others.
It’s an enormous a part of how the movie demonstrates that whereas change could be sluggish, it’s nonetheless taking place, and there are troopers on each entrance. And seeing that makes To Kill a Tiger a reassuring watch.