Monkey Man Starring Dev Patel Explores Transgender Rights In India
Image: IMDB film stills
Dev Patel lives up to his name with a devastating directorial debut. Monkey Man tells a tale of terror, trauma, and transgender rights in India, brutally beating home its central message of karma.
Like all the best action heroes, Patel’s anonymous protagonist is driven by a thirst for revenge. In a homage to films like Game of Death and The Raid, the hero literally works his way up in the world, and his employer’s skyscraper, to avenge his mother’s murder.
Starting as an underdog paid to take dives in an underground boxing ring to a waiter serving gilded cocaine to the elite in an exclusive penthouse nightclub, he exploits his invisibility as a member of the underclass to meet, and then unseat, everyone’s expectations.
Throughout the film we glimpse snippets of the broader political context – the rise of a hardline religious movement, the expansion of this organisation into electoral politics, and the harassment of trans people by the party’s supporters.
Central to the hero’s success is the support he receives from a group of hijra – people who identify as transgender, intersex and third sex. After losing a fight and barely escaping with his life, the hero is rescued by the hijra, who hides him from his enemies. Regaining consciousness underneath a statue of Ardhanarishvara, a deity comprising the right half of the god Shiva and the left half of the goddess Parvati, the hero is nursed back to health and sheltered by the women in their dilapidated temple. Explaining that the local authorities shun the temple out of discomfort with their genders, the women bring the hero into their community, helping him regain his physical and spiritual strength as he prepares for the fight of his life.
While their poverty is evident, the movie depicts the hijra as a strong, happy and loving community, a persecuted minority, an ancient Indian subculture, and a group of women who have overcome trauma to become true to themselves, much like the hero.
Heeding the temple leader’s advice to “remember who he is”, the climax of the film sees the hero fight alongside the hirja, who disguise themselves as the goddess Mahakali, the ten-armed avatar of Kali. As goddesses of destruction and death, but also liberation and protection, the women’s dance-like movements contrast with the faceless goons’ martial arts choreography to produce a breathtaking action sequence.
For fans of gory action and connoisseurs of hectic thrillers, Monkey Man is a must-see film. Now showing in Australian cinemas.
