Paltadacho Munis/The Man Beyond the Bridge
Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, India
2009, 96 min
European Premiere
21 February 2010
Delphi Filmpalast, Berlin
Cast: Chitranjan Giri (Vinayak, a forest ranger), Veena Jomkar (a madwoman), Prasanthi Talpanker (Aunt), Vasanth Josalkar (Priest), Deepak Amonkar (Forest chief)
One of eight Forum films nominated for the Best First Feature prize.
A widowed forest ranger in the Western Ghats of India’s Goa district strikes up an unlikely relationship with a madwoman he finds lost and alone in the woods. Ignoring the gossip of the nearby village, Vinayak (Chitranjan Giri) takes the woman (Veena Jomkar) into his home. But when she becomes pregnant, the family is brutally cast out.
Told in the native tongue of Konkani, a language otherwise hardly used in Indian cinema, Paltadacho Munis is a beautiful film of loneliness, compassion and the eternal struggle against bigotry. One for the ages.
Visit the Berlinale website.