This film is one that truly struck a chord with the audience, many of them coming out of the theater with a tear running down their cheek.
Jalaler Golpo is either three stories about one boy named Jalal, or three stories about three boys named Jalal. In either case, any discerning audience will perceive that the stories are really about three women, Jalal’s three “mothers,” the only people to show unconditional affection towards the orphan.
It’s a world where men are deemed to be crazy dogs immersed in superstition and greed and women are sensitive swans, or rather sitting ducks – some melancholy blue and some blood red. It’s ironic that while one man is desperate to have a child for winning the election, another man is desperate to get rid of a child for the same purpose. As the stories progress the men become more beast-like and the women suffer more.
Jalal has a special gift, something that no man in his milieu possesses, he has empathy: the ability to feel the pain of others as if it was his own. He must pay the debt of the love of the women and somehow end their suffering, and by saving them he will be saving himself. We see visual metaphors of life and freedom such as a running horse, flying pigeons, flower gardens, but we do not see any real action. This inactivity spells a curse on him - unless he completes his prophetic-task, he will be forever trapped in an eternal vicious circle of life and death. He needs to act. He needs to follow his soul. He needs to answer his calling.
But what can he do? In a way we ourselves become cursed, since as the audience, we are also doing nothing – we are just sitting there watching. Every time the film is projected in the theater ,we hope perhaps this time Jalal’s story will be different.
The terrific performances and the realistic source-of-light photography enhanced the power of the film. But the best part about the film is Mosharaf Karim, who is clearly among the finest actors working in our country today.
