9.3 for Jai Bhim: Perhaps Indians should be banned from voting on imdb

I am quite sympathetic to critics such as Christopher Hitchens and others who were revolted by Mel Gibson's Passion of The Christ as torture porn. But that is a searing indictment of Christianity than the  movie itself. This ahem passion project of Mel Gibson( due to lack of studio backing, he ended up pouring his own fortune ) is very well made and effective. Cinematography, editing, set design, performances all contributed to the general ambience of dread, horror and, in the end.  the sense of joy and salvation. And these types of reviews were coming from people who don't even subscribe to the theology. Say what you want about Mel Gibson and his off screen drama , he makes great films 

Jai Bhim is really torture porn in the style of Gibson's pet project. The authority figures against the Irulas are not realistic characters but are sadistic caricatures who  sneer ,growl and hiss like the Roman centurions and the bloodthirsty Jewish mob .

This is not to doubt the veracity of the events on which the film is based. A grave and horrific injustice did occur to these unfortunates who are completely at the mercy of an indifferent(at best) and hostile powerful structure.

And I can understand playing up the emotional quotient in order to make it impactful. But that doesn't mean that it is a good film. The legal proceedings for instance are very amateur hour and often devolve into silliness. Generally lawyers do not passionately make pleas for their defendant  during the proceedings but only in their closing. Most legal proceedings are very dry citing various articles of documents such as testimony, affidavits etc. So yes I do understand if this got jazzed up for the audience. Western films too do the same. The difference is that they do it well.

As someone who is addicted to binging on Dick Wolf's (original) Law and Order TV series, I can tell you that this is probably the most compelling, intriguing ( though of course reductionist) method of portraying a court case.  Jai Bhim's story telling style of the litigation cannot even compare to a 20 year old American TV series.

Speaking of legacy, I did however enjoy the touches of the 1990s, the era in which this was based, with the VHS tapes , posters of Mani Ratnam's Bombay and the like. I can also admire the social justice aspect of making these films. I mentioned before that while I sympathize with the police in riot situations in the street, what they do in lock ups is absolutely horrendous. The Indian police of pretty much every state act like glorified thugs when they are not watched closely. This is a failing of the Indian psyche, which for the last 200 years at least do not know how to judiciously exercise power.

So I can understand why there are so many fans of this movie but I cannot understand when do this:

 

Jai Bhim

• 2021
• TV-MA
• 2h 44m

IMDb RATING

9.3/10

175K

	1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	9.2
	2. The Godfather (1972)	9.1
	3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)	9.0
	4. The Dark Knight (2008)	9.0
	5. 12 Angry Men (1957)	8.9
	6. Schindler's List (1993)	8.9
	7. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	8.9
	8. Pulp Fiction (1994)	8.8
	9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)	8.8
	10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	8.8
	11. Fight Club (1999)	8.7
	12. Forrest Gump (1994)	8.7
	13. Inception (2010)	8.7
	14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)	8.7
	15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)	8.7
	16. The Matrix (1999)	8.7
	17. Goodfellas (1990)	8.6
	18. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)	8.6
	19. Seven Samurai (1954)	8.6
	20. Se7en (1995)	8.6
	21. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	8.6
	22. City of God (2002)	8.6
	23. Life Is Beautiful (1997)	8.6
	24. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)	8.6
	25. Saving Private Ryan (1998)	8.6

Each and every one of these films is vastly superior to Jai Bhim. Heck even the top 100 are far better . Jai Bhim has absolutely no business getting a 9.3 in rating. Just as the Indian judicial systems is broken , so is the average Indian's ability to judge a film's merits. This also goes for Sacred Games and Bahubali , both of whom had above 9.0 ratings at some point, which they also had no business acquiring. This sort of approach vastly twists and perverts imdb rating system which is the last honest rating system since Rotten Tomatoes is so hopelessly compromised by wokeness.

Speaking of "woke"  , the film really hams it up with regard to the social justice aspect. The lawyer Chandru has not just Periyar but Ambedkar and Karl Marx portraits hanging on pretty much every room! And even enquires when attending a independence day celebration at school, with kids dressed as Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, as to why Ambedkar is absent. There were many subtle and non verbal ways to address these. But the director lacking any finesse or talent apart from gore and tears porn , hits us over the head with it repeatedly. Also I should note that Ambedkar would not wish to be in the company of Karl Marx at all as he hated communism and wanted to Dalits to become rich with the aid of the free market.

A woman who claims to be a lawyer  writing for Print.in mentioned this howler 

On the occasion of Human Rights day, having worked in this area for almost five years, I am of the view that Jai Bhim should be made a part of school syllabus so that students can become the protectors of human rights. The film should also be shown in police training cells to educate officers about the weaknesses in the manipulated investigations and the consequences of them physically and mentally torturing the prisoners. The film can also be a good lesson for law students who are interested in criminal trials to learn the art of cross-examination and how it can unearth the truth.

Forcing rebellious young students, with near  infinite entertainment options these days, to watch something is a surefire way for them to either ignore and dismiss it (at best) or make them think that "hey I get to torture people if I become police, far out man!" in the vein of  the vicious teenage murderer and rapist Alex in the Clockwork Orange who when given a Bible to read in prison imagined himself as a Centurion whipping Jesus.

However she also says this thereby contradicting her statement about how it is a good law lesson!

The judiciary also played a pivotal role. The judges accommodated the lawyer at every stage. A sensitive judiciary saves the audience from succumbing to a sense of absolute hopelessness when it helps the lawyers uncover manipulations of the powerful. It hammers home the lesson of the need for the judiciary to be fearless and free from any bias except loyalty to equality and equity before the law.

Yes the judges in the film and in the real life case were very accommodating and even sympathetic to the defendant. However what is the guarantee that all the judges would be the same way in real life in other cases? Exactly zero! Judges are not supposed to be "sensitive" but cold , steely eyed and apply they law as it is written. Emotional appeals the lawyers forte as it should be. There is also a possibility that law students may encounter casteist or bigoted judges. Then pray tell me how would this film help law students?!

And the woman who wrote this is a lawyer, I have no legal training and destroyed her ridiculous claims with minimal effort. May the gods help this country!

Again this is terrible to see because Tamil films manage to balance the pure commercialism of Telugu and Bollywood films with the artistic sensibility and technical talent of Malayalam films to create a product which is as the saying goes "mass and class". It is this type of approach that generated Mani Ratnam, Murugadoss(whom Nolan charitably forgave for ripping off Memento) , K Balachander, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, S Shankar ,Kamal Hassan among others. If Tamils are unable despite this pedigree to judge their films  objectively in an international arena, then they should just abstain. This of course applies to every other group as well . Again I am looking at you Telugus who gave Bahubali a 9.5 rating!

Indians please leave imdb alone. Thank you