A still from the movieDirector: Deepa Mehta
Language: Hindi
Deepa Mehta's Anatomy of Violence is a semi-fictional adaptation of the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, which shocked the conscience of the nation, stirred global outrage and brought focus on the gender-based violence in India.
But no, it’s not a re-telling of the events that took place in the national capital on December 16, 2012 where a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped by six men in a moving bus. Mehta strips down the rapists to their bare essentials in this brave venture.
The six men, all Bihari migrants, live among the middle and upper classes of the society like weeds in the garden. The film throws light into the rationale behind their beastly nature without justifying them in any manner.
With minds twisted from lack of education, they cram into tiny houses and scramble to make money. The film goes deeper into the savage-like lives of the six rapists and chalks out instances that show their debauched lifestyle.
Although unsettling, Mehta's treatment of the subject is noteworthy; for instance, the childhood of the rapists is characterized by adults who represent the characters instead of casting children. The director has also attempted to explain their sociological and psychological background along with the victim’s life in parallel.
Anatomy of Violence does not show how the girl was raped, but instead focuses on the events that took place before and after. This might be intentional as it’s a fair assumption that everyone knows the harrowing details about the incident.
The film also looks into India’s complex class distinction on the basis of caste, gender and money. The film has four episodes - ‘Lives Lived’ that talks drifts through the past of the rapists as the victim; ‘Towards Zero’, which shows what happens on the fateful day; ‘Division of Spoils’ on the outcome and ‘Aftermath’, the end.
Mehta’s film basically tells you about the making of a rapist. The ‘nothing has happened’ attitude of one of the rapists will certainly shock you in the most traumatic way. After all, truth is uncomfortable!
