HELEN-movie review

Helen-Movie Review

Helen is a Malayalam thriller drama movie which centralizes the aspect of survival of an independent woman in the world. This story is inspired by true life events which makes it a more eerie experience for the people who watch the movie. It portrays sheer determination of a middle class woman who is ready to face the world at any cost. Helen, the protagonist is often late out at night due to her tight work schedule and financial problems. She is a nurse determined to migrate to Canada to migrate to Canada to improve her financial status who lived with her father after her mother’s demise.  Being a Christian her father didn’t accept the concept of marrying a person of opposite caste although she had a Muslim boyfriend( Azhar) without the knowledge of her own father until one day a cop(Ratheesh) catches them on the way back home. He telephones her father (Paul) who gets furious on his own daughter. These events lead to the disappearance of helen the very next day. As she was a lovable and noticeable character many were disappointed and worried by her mysterious disappearance. At this point I felt that Azhar should have been a little more careful- he should have worn a helmet while riding a scooter and drunken permissible amount of liquor. The cop was a person with rooted social evils of the society who played with the law and the power in his hands to show supremacy of racial integration on the false empathy of parental care. The nerve wracking melodrama begins when Helen is asked by her staff mates to keep a package in the freezer ( she works in a shop named chicking in grand central mall after her tuitions of English language for her trip to Canada). She goes to the freezer after punching her name in the computer system. The owner accidently finds the door of the freezer open and locks it. She gets trapped inside the freezer with a rat. She is engulfed by claustrophobia as she breathes, shivers and takes each step in the freezer whereas outside the freezer Paul, Azhar (who comes back from his way to Chennai) and friends are struggling to find Helen forgetting the differences of the caste and religion .The various survival methods used by Helen is shown in the rest half of the movie that spans about five hours of night. The ineluctable smile of Helen saves her at last as she is remembered by the security of the mall. She finally regains her consciousness in her father’s arms with a smile on her face. Her father accepts the relationship and she is glad that the inner riots of the minor communities have ended. 

-RITIKA KANAKARAJ
 2ND BSc FND