The Mystic Masseur (2001)
Circa 1940 in Trinidad, still a British Colony, lives Ganesh Ramseyor, of East Indian origin, along with his wife, Leela. He longs to reach out to people, especially to Hindus, in order to promote the Hindu Faith, and be known as a writer. He does get considerable success, so much so that he becomes famous as a miracle worker, having cured a man of sharing intimacy with his bicycle; prevented a man from believing that he can fly; and convincing a young woman to end her fast. His fame spreads all over the island and thousands throng to seek his blessings, which he does dole out quite benevolently, without charging any fees from the poor and the needy. He then decides to spread his wings by challenging the local politician Pandit Narayan Chandrashekhar alias Cyrus T., and takes over The Hindu Organization, thence opening his way to a seat in the prestigious Member of the Legislative Assembly
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the audience applauded
It is a performances centric movie
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
It's not likely this movie will appeal to anyone but Merchant-Ivory devotees, Trinidadians or people who lived in Trinidad during the era depicted by the movie, V. S. Naipaul fans, mystics, or massage practitioners. And it's possible you're a V. S. Naipaul fan because he's a Trinidad success story himself. I grew up in pre-Independence Trinidad for a few years as a small boy around the time the story takes place and have a memory of its spectacular scenery and lush interior flatlands, tablelands and mountains, its towns and villages and seashores and eccentric stew of ethnic inhabitants. Later when my family returned in the late 60's we revisited the land of our youth to find many changes, not least in the change in attitude of blacks towards whites. After one summer there again as a teenager, my father sent my brother and I back to school in Canada each with a copy of a V. S. Naipaul novel. I got "Miguel Street" and was glad of it, although I never read my brother's copy of "A House for Mr. Biswas". I do know, however, that Naipaul has captured the essence of Trinidadian "wannabee-ism", and yearning for national independence, in "The Mystic Masseur". I rented this movie because I lived in Trinidad, but might have bypassed it if not for the Merchant-Ivory production. I was not surprised to note a wild assortment of "Trinidadian" accents, although the writers nailed the twisted colloquialisms, sort of like, "She took de ice-cold box of chicken breast and put it under she nylon dress." I recall the outdoor kitchens, and the dusty, flyblown stores of the rural areas denoted in the movie. I recall the taxis, which were privately-owned vehicles travelling established routes picking up and letting people off where they wanted. A glaring oversight is the lack of deployed mosquito-netting in the bedrooms - and no one slaps away the relentless onslaught of mosquitoes and no-see-ums at any time. The movie and novel do carefully depict the credulous, deceptive, argumentative, insulting behaviour of the uneducated, rural and poor folk. The acting, apart from the accents, is done enthusiastically by the Asian players, with James Fox bringing some Merchant-Ivory to the role of a crazy, old, English sadhu. So, this movie will seem slow and boring to people who don't know Trinidad either from Naipaul or from having lived there during the era the movie depicts, and I'm afraid that while it's a lovely movie to look at, and fairly authentic in it's depiction of rural Trinidadian life, I suppose, it's a slow-moving piece of obscure nostalgia.
Don't believe the comments, this film is a pleasant surprise, not pretentious artistic butler garbage. The film depicts a young Indian teacher in Trinidad in the 1940s, an aspiring intellectual in a rural, isolated village. The acting in this movie is its strongest point, the dynamic between the title character and the villagers, including his wife and father-in-law are cute, homey, and very refreshing, a merriness not seen in many mainstream films in the last 10 years. Om Puri, as the protagonist's father-in-law is truly hilarious in his portrayal of a bumpkin fascinated with the ways of the educated. Aside from the abrupt ending this flick is a real charming piece of film candy. The photography in the lush, rainy, green of Trinidad is also notable.
anyone who knows anything about trinidad/trinidadians would immediately realize within the first five minutes of this movie that these people don't seem to take their subject matter seriously. why go and waste loads of money on a movie, when your actors cannot pull off a half-decent trinidadian accent? throughout the movie we have either indian or british-indian actors making a sorry attempt at mimicking trinidadian speech. why not go and hire a full cast of trinidadian people? the movie did feature a few native trinidadians and their perfect accents made the other actors' poor accents show up even more. i truly wonder why v.s. naipaul let his book get treated in this careless manner.
after making a special effort to get to see this movie..i was so disappointed..attracted by merchant,naipul, and trinadad..what a letdown..slow,dull, with a story that went nowhere..it definitely a film to miss