How often do we think about death? Our brushes with mortality are often when misfortune strikes loved ones or through books and movies. But while there have been great movies centred around grief and dying, one aspect that is sidelined to very simplistic projections is the funeral. Usually, in South Indian movies, you see a gathering where women are wailing and men standing sober faced around a body covered with a white sheet. This scene is often just a few minutes of the movie itself.
Ee. Ma. Yau is different. The entire movie is about the funeral - the messy affair of saying a final goodbye. A poor fisherman's son wants to bid goodbye to his late father with some dignity. But when death strikes suddenly, time is against you and you are poor, this is no easy ask, especially in a society where the distinction between private and public blurs - where rituals, religion, neighbours, corruption, bureaucracy, everything converge to hassle you before you can take even five minutes off to grieve. This is not your usual film that follows an arc - the one where problem strikes, hero suffers, he fights and then overcomes it all. This is more like a documentary on the sociology of death that pays attention to the details - how women grieve differently in front of different people, how a village with little to look forward to creates its own entertainment around death and the dynamics of power that is asserted by religion in times of crisis.
The movie in itself is a little boring - there, I said it. Because, as I mentioned, there is little plot; the genius is in the realism and attention to subtle, societal details. You need patience to sit through the first half, at least. But it does push one to think of the complexities around mortality. Towards the end, all at once, strong emotion hit me. And I did dream a thing or two about death for a few days.
Cheers to the most elaborate funeral in Indian Cinema!
