The Imprints by M.G. Sasi pays homage to the well-known Malayalam writer Nandanar. The film opens with a striking montage about the writer's traumatic journey. Driven by lust for life, this prolific writer ultimately succumbs to the lure of death. Contrary to the life of the one who inspired it, the film resonates with the idea "Fight or Perish."

The characters of the film are drawn from several stories of Nandanar. The protagonist Gopi (played by debutant actor Govind Pathmasurya) is an adolescent son of a Kathakali (a traditional theatrical art form of Kerala) artist. After the death of his father, his elder brother turns his back on the family, pushing them further into despair. Driven by the struggle for survival, he is not sure of his enemies and what to fight for or against. Poverty and joblessness haunt Gopi, and his only source of emotional and sensual comfort is the village snake girl, Meenakshy. When all the other doors close before him, it is she who prompts him to take up a job with the army. Obviously, he has no other choices before him to come out of the trap. And he is forced to become a soldier, in his war against poverty.

Against the backdrop of war and resultant economic misery, the film is set in the 1940s in a remote Kerala village, a little world that Gopi is yearning to escape from. One image that recurs throughout the film is that of a hand that moves as if trying to reach out for something beyond, for life and love. In its narration, the movie makes judicious use of Kathakali performances, recitals from the epics and other folklore, to add poignancy to the situation, which at the same time connects it with the mythical. These elements also provide the film with a local feel of the period and the milieu.

Despite its shortcomings in dialogue rendering and inconsistencies in the performances of the actors, the film, undoubtedly, is a genuine attempt by a young director to capture the dark mysteries of life and survival.

Rohini Kumar
© FIPRESCI 2008