‘Higuita’ movie review: A political drama wallowing in stereotypes and half-truths

A still from ‘Higuita’

If Rene Higuita, the Colombian footballer, were to watch Higuita, he would probably be left wondering as to what made the makers name the movie after him. In N.S. Madhavan’s story of that name, there are certain parallels to the footballer’s story in how the protagonist rises above the limitations imposed on him by the priest’s robe to save a girl from her tormentor.

However, at the centre of Hemanth G. Nair’s movie is Panniyannur Mukundan (Suraj Venjaramoodu), a powerful politician, who is shown to be adept in the game of survival and in moving up the ladder. The parallels seem forced, and the title is justified as an afterthought, with his machinations to stay ahead of his opponents being compared to Higuita’s unorthodox methods. Just in case that did not sound convincing, there is an epilogue in which he kicks a football.

But, somehow, it is not the politician, but his gunman Ayyappadas (Dhyan Sreenivasan) who gets much of our attention. This has to do with how the character is written, and how the actor performs it. Ayyappadas, who gets the police job following his father’s death, is a very scared man, we are told by multiple characters. We wouldn’t know unless we are told, because Dhyan plays Ayyappadas as an expressionless man with just a few dialogues.

Hemanth’s script is set in Kannur, the go-to place for political movies in Malayalam these days. Just like most of those films, the place is portrayed as a dark, violent corner of the state, where just about everyone walks around with drawn daggers. In fact, one of the few attempts at humour in the movie is about a man who is preparing to throw a few country bombs at the house of a relative, a rival party worker, on the eve of his daughter’s wedding, because he wasn’t invited for the same.

The stereotyping of the town is rivalled only by how the script stereotypes politicians. Even Panniyannur Mukundan is a familiar cardboard character, so reminiscent of several others in movies of this kind. Some events and personalities from real-life are weaved into the script, with similar names, but it often takes liberty with facts, and appears one-sided for most parts. Many political attacks or murders are portrayed as inside jobs, and suggestions are made that these are common occurrences, although news reports over the years tell us otherwise. The main opposition in the state is meanwhile completely missing from the picture.

But even if these facts are overlooked, the film is pretty vague about what it wants to say. The script, as well as the gunman, from whose perspective we see much of the narrative, wavers between admiration and distrust of Panniyannur Mukundan, the political heavyweight whose hands are also not so clean. Mukundan is at times heard mouthing weird lines like ‘a scared man is the biggest obscenity’, as words of advice to his gunman, because instilling some confidence in him seems to be the politician’s life goal. But, the audience will have to sit through a sluggish, aimless script for the gunman to overcome his fear. It is also no wonder that women are almost absent from this world.

Higuita is currently running in theatres