Cry for justice
C. GOURIDASAN NAIR
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`Injustice in Camera' is on the plight of the girl at the centre of the Suryanelli case.
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REFUGEE: The film focusses on the state of women.
It is not often that documentaries made in Kerala become part of ongoing polemics, the only exception perhaps being the films made on environmental issues. Documentaries that seek to take contemporary debates on life and society and social violence and denial of justice call for much than a passion for film-making. Such films can come out only from heightened sensitivity to societal issues and a burning desire to right what one perceives as wrongs.
`Injustice In Camera,' a documentary film by Manilal, falls into this rare category. The documentary takes a searing look at the way the system has responded to the plight of a minor girl from Suryanelli in Idukki district , who was the victim of a sex-for-money racket in the mid-90s, from the point of view of a cross section of people in Kerala. "I want to live like an ordinary girl, I want to go out and mingle with my friends..." these words of the Suryanelli girl run through the film.
It is a wail - a wail that seems to fall on the deaf ears of a society marked by the domination of the male perspective.
The film, through the poignant words of an array of individuals from all walks of life-students, researchers, activists, artists, writers and sex workers-takes a critical look at institutional attitudes that remain largely hostile to women and creates a mosaic of experience - about what it means and feels to be live as a female in contemporary Kerala.
Interspersed with paintings, posters and performances, the film, even while taking strong ethical and political positions, manages to steer clear of sloganeering and engages the viewer to reflect upon the traumatic human situation one finds in Kerala today.
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