white tiger
Director: Ramin Bahani
Screenwriter: Aravind Yadiga
Starring: Adash Guraf, Priyanka Chopra, Raj Kumar, Mahesh Manjerika, Vijay Moriah, etc.
Genre: Drama / Crime
Launch date: 2021-01-22 (US)
The satire of institutions, traditions and government corruption in Indian films is nothing new, and the Indian film " The White Tiger " (2021), which will be launched on Netflix on January 22, uses a dark, angry, world-weary story, Once again, the class conflict between the rich and the poor is brought to the screen.
The film is based on the "New York Times" bestseller and the 2008 Man Booker award-winning novel of the same name, directed by Ramin Ba, director of "Man Push Cart" ( Man Push Cart , 2005) and "Latin Boy Sky" ( Chop Shop , 2007). Directed by Ramin Bahrani. In the story, an Indian entrepreneur who grew up in a poor village tells his dark life story in a letter to Premier Wen Jiabao.
As soon as the film was launched, it caused a lot of discussion. While many film critics lamented the amazing and smooth storyline of the director's film, they couldn't help but compare the satire of the rich and the poor in "White Tiger" with the Oscar-winning work directed by Feng Junhao. Parasite ( Parasite , 2019) for comparison— both works are deeply dark class stories told in a comedic shell.
So what exactly is "White Tiger" about?
chicken trapped in cage
poor india enslaved by class disparity
The story is set between 2000, 2007 and 2010, when Barrang Halevi, a successful contemporary Indian entrepreneur, decided to write a letter to him after seeing the news on TV that Premier Wen Jiabao was about to visit India. In the letter, he told his dark and humorous life story.
Ballang is from a poor village on the outskirts of Rachimangarar, India. His every move and every step of his life is controlled by his controlling grandmother.
He showed a strong learning ability since he was a child. He should have successfully entered a good local primary school to complete his education, but because of the poverty of his family, he had to drop out of school and go home to help the family tea shop to knock coal. After his father died of tuberculosis, his elder brother was also forced to marry by his grandmother as a family reception.
Because he couldn't bear the lack of personal will in his family and the extremely poor living environment, he was determined to get a driver after hearing from the village chief that Ashok, the son of a local rich man who had just returned from the United States, was recruiting drivers. Get out of your present life.
He promised to send all his wages to his grandmother after earning money, and borrowed three hundred rupees to go to the city to learn to drive. It didn't take long for Ballang to follow the path he had set for himself: to be a faithful driver, serving his wealthy master.
Barron's words were mixed with pride and shame as he recounted the experience in the letter. The obedient and obedient Ballang accepted all the orders of his master, and he seemed extremely humble when discussing his salary with his master. He even said that he didn't need a salary and that it was an honor for the rich to work for their inferiors.
The caste system in India for thousands of years has divided the society into morbid pros and cons. The wealth gap is also growing.
Poor Indians from "inferior" backgrounds had to fight for a servant job for the rich, while the "superior" rich people exploited their natural caste advantages to squeeze the working people at the bottom of society.
Barran is unknowingly full of anger at the inequalities rooted in this society, and this anger will explode in a violent, bloody event that is about to unfold. Because there are some things that money can't solve.
white tiger in the jungle
Repressed anger and low self-esteem
One of the wonderful things about the story and social meaning of "White Tiger" is that it explores the topic of "whether wealth is equal to the innate sense of superiority of the rich", in other words, "whether the good and evil shown in the rich are? are associated with their sense of class superiority . " This is also similar to Ken Loach's " Sorry We Missed You " ( 2019) and Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite".
In the film, Ashok and his wife Pinkie, who returned from studying in the United States, seem to be different from most of the wealthy Indians. They respect servants and drivers, believe that everyone is equal, and encourage Barrang to let go. His own humble spirit of servitude, looking for a way out of his own life.
They seem to care about and respect Barrang, and the couple's dislike of the traditional Indian system is also on the bright side. However, the question that many people ask after watching the movie is, how much of their kindness comes from the heart? How much of it comes from your own sense of superiority? What effect will all this have?
While others were beating and kicking Barron, Ashok and Pingu would stop the behavior and tell them it was illegal in the United States; When the crotch is in the position, Ping Ji will tell him in disgust that it is wrong to do so, and accuse him that the taste of betel nut in his mouth is always uncomfortable.
Countless times in a low, submissive manner, Barron said, "This is what I should do as a servant", "I was born to serve you as a servant". It is precisely at this moment that the inferiority complex and self-suppression in the bones have caused great counter-effects when faced with the superiority from the subconscious of the rich.
Just like in "Parasite", the high-ranking President Park's family couldn't understand why Kim Ki-taek, the driver, felt a great offense just because the hostess felt the smell in the car was different and asked to open the window for ventilation. From a humble background, he subconsciously felt that he was stinky and despised by others, and it was precisely the words and expressions of those "high above" people that stabbed the most painful part of their hearts, and from now on in his heart Plant the seeds of resistance and hatred.
The accumulation of all these layers also led to the fact that in the end, when faced with extreme situations, he suddenly realized that he was just an ant in front of them. This momentary huge stimulation also led to a sudden killing intent in the heart of this humble man.
Barlang in the film also suffered from this kind of stimulation. After Ping Ji inadvertently accused him of the smell of betel nut and indecent behavior, Barlang rushed to the market to buy a lot of toothpaste cleaning supplies. In the toilet in the dark basement, while brushing his teeth hard, he looked at himself in the mirror angrily, with huge doubts and confusion in his mind: "Why didn't you tell me people need to brush their teeth? Why didn't my father tell me not to. Crotch grabbing in front of others? Why am I living like a disgusting animal?"
All this anger became even more piercing after the owner killed a little girl while drunk driving, and the whole family decided to make Ballang a scapegoat. They contacted the police department's work network, and if things went well, Barron could complete his important "servant" mission and get out. Just how many times will something like this happen? How many scapegoats will India produce like Barrang?
cruel satirical indian fairy tale
Fantasy is the only hope
At the beginning of the film, Ballang, who performed well in the classroom, was recommended by his teacher for a scholarship and promised him to go to a top primary school. The teacher said to Ballang: "Any poor boy in any poor mountain village in India can become the Prime Minister of India... But just like there is an animal in the forest that only produces one of its kind, and that is a white tiger."
The journey from a dark and morbid poor kid to a successful entrepreneur may seem like the exact opposite of a Disney movie's transformation into a long fairy tale, but the story of "White Tiger" is also comparable to the most unrealistic fairy tale in terms of probability of occurrence. story.
For Indian children, it is a bloody and accidental event to climb the road to the top of the society and gain the so-called social status from the starting point of the lower caste and the poor.
Whether it is the fear in the bones, inferiority, or the colored glasses and hierarchy of society and religion, the "India", "Poverty Mountain Village", "Poverty Boy" and "Indian Prime Minister" can only be a parallel line, and can never become a The end of those children.
Ramin Bahani made an analogy in the film, he said that 99% of the Indian population is like a chicken in a cage. They can smell the blood and know what their fate is about to meet, but no one will try to escape. Rather than saying that Ballang in "White Tiger" is the white tiger in the jungle, it is better to say that he is a chicken in a cage trying to open the door.
But after Ballang pushed open the cage door in an extremely bloody and violent way, he found that the door had always been open, but no one had ever pushed it.
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