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Raja
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| Location
: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
| Joined
On: 4/10/2006 10:39:06 PM |
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Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus
- 9/21/2013 1:18:26 PM
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Story: The film is about a thug who is picked to play the role of Jesus in a play. He ends up in a village where he has to confront some ghosts from his past.
Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus, the directorial venture of Marthandan, is a typical parable of a bad man turning good. Benny P Nayarambalam draws as much from his theatre experience as from The Bible to churn out a narrative, which has a number of characters, events and direct biblical references.
It's about a vicar who plans a religious drama and goes in search of a man to play Jesus. His search ends in Cleetus, about whose past the priest has no clue. Mammootty plays Cleetus, with sleepy eyes and a flimsy wig.
Immense work must have gone into the elaborate theatrical settings, which form the backdrop of the film. There is also a painful labour on the part of Benny in stitching together sequences that border real life and The Bible. The effect would have been nothing short of magical, had it not been overdone. The shrewd sense of measure that often comes handy while blending religion and real life is missing most often in Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus. The ploy is employed to mark the transition of Cleetus, squeezing in scenes in such a way that Jesus's life, suffering and even resurrection become that of Cleetus. The consequence of this effect is a ceaseless torrent of dramatic elements which make some of its sequences look even more unnatural than Cleetus's hair. Marthandan, as though overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the subject incorporates some light stuff, which eventually translates into poorly staged comic scenes.
Even while dallying with religion, Benny retains enough mystery about the characters that play around Cleetus. None of them works, as the narrative is almost lost in it's pursuit of religious profundity and the remaining characters vanish somewhere in the middle and never come back. Mammootty carries off the thug and later the moralist with a palpable tiredness, which is worsened by a patchy make-up.
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