The Comfort of Sorrow
Following Al Asleyeen, I'm writing about the film that best impressed me at the 16th Chennai International Film Festival. Pity is a Greek film directed by Babis Makridis. The lead character is a man addicted to sadness—not the typical psychological melodrama you could imagine. He's not someone who's unable to escape sorrow but actually enjoys being sad as it earns him the comfort of pity. However, his fortunes don't last for long.
The man is a lawyer by profession. His wife goes into coma after an accident, that earns him the pity of those around him. To his misfortune, his wife regains consciousness. He tries to hide the fact but people begin to learn one after the other, and they stop pitying him.
Now that most people know she's cured, he seeks new ways to gain pity. He throws his dog into the sea and tells people it went missing. People are like meh, it's just a dog. So what does he do next? He kills his dad and wife. He makes it appear like a murder in the series that he's dealing with in his latest case.
Do you remember the last time you fell ill or broke your arm? How were you treated back then? All of a sudden people had turned so good to you. Those who were nagging all the time, served you with care. You wished you shall never recover, didn't you?
As a school kid, you gave excuses for being late, not wearing uniform, dirty shoes, etc. Your excuse was that your mom was unwell. Your teachers and friends were curious all the day to know what happened to her. You became a celebrity. You wished people treat you the same way everyday. You enjoy being lazy on the inside and pitied upon on the outside.
In a society that's believed to have been created for the common good, people repress such desires that go against the social norms. Pity suggests that if you set out to break the norms, you could end up killing your dear ones.
The man is a lawyer by profession. His wife goes into coma after an accident, that earns him the pity of those around him. To his misfortune, his wife regains consciousness. He tries to hide the fact but people begin to learn one after the other, and they stop pitying him.
Now that most people know she's cured, he seeks new ways to gain pity. He throws his dog into the sea and tells people it went missing. People are like meh, it's just a dog. So what does he do next? He kills his dad and wife. He makes it appear like a murder in the series that he's dealing with in his latest case.
Do you remember the last time you fell ill or broke your arm? How were you treated back then? All of a sudden people had turned so good to you. Those who were nagging all the time, served you with care. You wished you shall never recover, didn't you?
As a school kid, you gave excuses for being late, not wearing uniform, dirty shoes, etc. Your excuse was that your mom was unwell. Your teachers and friends were curious all the day to know what happened to her. You became a celebrity. You wished people treat you the same way everyday. You enjoy being lazy on the inside and pitied upon on the outside.
In a society that's believed to have been created for the common good, people repress such desires that go against the social norms. Pity suggests that if you set out to break the norms, you could end up killing your dear ones.
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