Daivathinte swantham Cletus
What good
can come out of Malayalam film industry? What more can be expected from a person called
megastar Mammooty? I started with these presuppositions. But now I feel that Malayalam film industry still
has a great future and Mammooty can contribute a lot still. Even in this era of
the new generation currents, megastar is able to swim against the current and to
make his mark.
The skill of
the actor is well manifested in the movie titled ‘Daivathinte Swantham Cletus.’ It is not an
attempt to make fun of the Christian tradition but to raise a few questions
about understanding Jesus Christ in a new century. This is a different reading
of the gospel. Many are aspiring to be Jesus but the selected one is a sinner,
a sinner to the core. He rejects the offer in the beginning but ultimately he has to respond the the call. Of course, the call to be a another Jesus in this ever changing world is a challenge for us. We need to forget ourselves and to adopt a new system of values. Though the man is a sinner grace is still resisting to fade
away from his face.
Incompatibility
between Jesus Christ and Cletus is becoming clear as we go ahead. The actor
faces severe inner struggle to be a Jesus. It becomes difficult for him to
meditate on Jesus and to be faithful to him. He has all the temptations to go
back and to dwell in the darkness of the soul. But the ways of Divine are
great. Cletus is the chosen one. Cletus
represents a believer in this century proclaiming the faith and meantime facing
a difficult situation in being faithful to his set of beliefs. Many of the parables are interpreted in a different and new dimension. To be a Christ means to be one with the suffering, the oppressed and to remain where there is a greater need.
The darkness
of the world cannot hide the light of being. This is the key insight given by
the film, I think. As the film progresses, Cletus is identifying himself with his role as Christ which gives him a new turn in life. The suffering at the cross makes Cletus a new man and he
accepts his sinfulness. He receives the wounds as a punishment for all the evil
he had done. Here a Judas appears with bowl of red wine for the master. Cletus
is not really a sinner to the core. We can trace some element of goodness in
him. Cletus was called from the depth of sinfulness and made new. The Son has come to redeem the lost.When others observe world with lust Cletus observes the drowning innocents
and the tortured by the society.
Lakshmi is a great influencing character of the film. She is not like the passive women in the contemporary society and films. She is a powerful character with moral integrity, determination and courage. The society tried to view her as another Mary Magdalene, a prostitute. A Still she changed the perspective of the society by becoming a good mother to her son and in responding courageously when she was torn apart by the destiny.
Cletus is
God’s own with a compassionate heart..
Joseph Shibin
