142. Court; movie review

COURT
Cert PG
116 mins
BBFC advice: Contains suicide references

Often, when Mrs W and I watch movies about India we find them in contrast to the poverty which we witnessed during our brief stay a couple of years ago.
Bollywood does not tend to concentrate on beggars or the makeshift accommodation which can be seen all over cities such as Delhi and Jaipur.
Occasionally, however, Indian cinema breaks out of its mold and produces a movie as insightful as Court - its unsuccessful entry to the 2016 Academy Awards.
I can see why the judges did not go for Chaitanya Tamhane's film because it is often ponderous in its presentation and doesn't have the sort of finale which would woo Hollywood (or Bollywood).
However, this is a movie which is trying to make important points - and scoring with academy members would not have been among them.
It focuses on the snail's pace and overall unfairness of the justice system towards the poor in what is meant to be the largest democracy in the world.
The film concentrates on the case of a folk singer (Vira Sathidar) whose self-written songs are about the politics of dissent.
The wafer-thin case against him is that his lyrics prompted a poor sewerage worker to commit suicide.
Tamhane's picture follows the long-winded machinations in court as well as the home lives of the exasperated defence lawyer (Vivek Gomber), prosecutor (Geetanjali Kulkarni) and judge (Pradeep Joshi).
Such are the number of unnecessary delays and obvious inclination of the judge towards the prosecution that you may well find yourself involuntarily shouting at the screen (Mrs W and I did!).
The movie shows the real India, not just in Court but also outside where vibrant colours swathe areas of deprivation.
And it is not only a tale of justice in India. Having been a court reporter in the past, I have witnessed such nonsenses happen in my own country,


Reasons to watch: shows a side of India rarely seen at the cinema
Reasons to avoid: is 30 minutes longer than it needs to be

Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7/10
Star tweet