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Ismail Merchant died three years ago and James Ivory has nothing to do with it, but this ’30s tragic melodrama has Merchant-Ivory stamped all over it. Plantation owner and walking colonialist metaphor Henry Moores (Linus Roache, solid) is having a bally, lovely time – getting jiggy in the Kerala jungle with his Indian servant (Nandita Das, solid) while building a road to riches through it. Then everything goes to shit. His wife ( Jennifer Ehle, solid) turns up. Suspicions boil over. The workers strike. A gun goes off. Someone dies. Usual deal. Gorgeous but thuddingly obvious, this potboiler was directed by India’s Santosh Sivan, the cinematographer behind bomber-girl drama The Terrorist. Regrettably, he now seems less interested in emotion than the wondrous, sensual colours of his native land.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
