Written by Andreas Babiolakis

We are playing catch up by reviewing films that are a part of the current awards season.

Ramin Bahrani is such a dynamic filmmaker. It only makes sense that he would be the likely candidate to take a novel like Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger and not butcher it completely, like so many filmmakers wanting to appeal to young adult audiences. Not Bahrani, who has devoted much of his filmography to the working classes who struggle time and time again. He’s also always willing to go the extra mile, and The White Tiger feels like that kind of effort. The film is so darkly comedic, but only to match the occasional dip into disturbing territory (when The White Tiger isn’t prioritizing the horrors of living under the boots of the upper class. It’s an electrifying film that is as ruthless as it is straight forward.

This is a clear adaptation of a novel, but in a fantastic sense. I haven’t read the original book, but you can just feel the descriptions of a page (or a screenplay’s cues) leap off the page and onto the big screen. This is achieved by great cinematography, and even better editing. You cut to brief images of a dish, or a setting, or a reaction, and you get the full scope of what an author may have been saying in a paragraph; only you get the same result in a second’s worth of an image or shot (they do say a picture is worth a thousand words, after all). Not only is this descriptive filmmaking, it’s exciting, as The White Tiger zips from shot to shot, scene to scene, and event to event with such tenacity. There’s still a balance to these techniques (occasional pauses and lulls), so you never feel like you’re getting a headache, or that there is an over compensation to take over from a stale story. The editing and cinematography are bombastic, and yet tasteful at the same time.

The story is one of class related struggles, told with both sincerity and bitterness.

All of this surrounds a powerful story, with enough twists and turns that The White Tiger feels like it can give you a gimme as soon as the feature begins. Still, you know what will happen an hour or so in. but the journey up to this point is what matters. We have the many woes of Balram, who has been forced into a life of servitude. His story is told in hindsight, so you can gather that this is all in the past. The question is where exactly he ends up. Even so, there are so many steps along the way that will keep The White Tiger gripping, and even jaw dropping. Its commentary on the abuse of the working and poorer classes is obvious, but its treatment of this through the eyes of a lead character who is wise, bitter and grateful for their success at the same time.

While I’ve seen this kind of film done better, it is nice to really get into the mind of a character like Balram, in a way that no thoughts are off limits; no matter how cynical, funny, or disturbing they may be. It’s his version of reality. The world around him is still shot realistically, so we’re not in a distorted perception. We still hear all of his inner thoughts. It’s a nice juxtaposition between the severity of one’s surroundings and circumstances, and the palette of mental responses one has to it all. Again, this is clearly an adaptation of a book, but in a great way: these are the kinds of images and voices I can imagine myself conjuring up when translating text into my own experience. The White Tiger still translates well as a film, especially its artistic approaches in the editing room. I know The White Tiger is a part of the 2020 awards season, but it’s technically an actual 2021 release, and it’s a strong enough film of this year to consider it an early recommendation, and hopefully a sign of the great cinema that is yet to come this way.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.