Santosh: A gripping feminist political thriller of ambiguity (review)
The first feature-length fiction film by an Indian director from the documentary genre. One of the highlights of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, unjustly forgotten in the awards.
India made a big impact in Cannes. With All we imagine as light by Payal Kapadia, which marked the country’s return to competition after 30 years of famine, crowned with a Grand Jury Prize. And so with Santoshpresented, him, at Un Certain Regard. A first fiction film signed – and it is evident by the way she looks at the situations and her characters! – by a director from the documentary world. Santosh is the name of her heroine, a young widow of a police officer who died in the line of duty who, benefiting from a law allowing any partner of a civil servant to inherit his position in the event of his death, finds herself donning the costume of a policewoman. And immediately, this rookie is thrown into the deep end: an investigation into the death of a young Hindu woman from a lower caste that will confront her with the corruption reigning within the police force as well as the harassment linked to her gender in this world of dominant males.
Santosh works like a double-edged sword. It is both a thriller with a crescendo of tension and a political firebrand that holds up an uncompromising mirror to an India gangrened by institutional sexism, waste and humiliations induced by the caste system. But it knows how to distil ambiguity so as never to sink into Manichean simplifications, through the character of Santosh’s superior, an inspector who, while taking her under her wing, seems permanently ready to sacrifice her to save her status and reputation. If Santosh keeps you in suspense until its last image, this duo-duel has a lot to do with it.
By Sandhya Suri. With Shahana Goswani, Sanjay Bishnoi, Sunita Rajwar… Duration 2h. Released on July 17, 2024
