I Watch Films: Monkey Man

 

Monkey Man

As a child Kid (Dev Patel) learned about Hanuman, the monkey god and how he challenged the gods. Then his village was destroyed by Rana Singh, the corrupt police chief, for Baba Shakti, a religious leader. Kid’s mother was killed by Singh and Kid burned his hands trying to save his mother.

As an adult Kid, now in the city of Yatana, wears a monkey mask at fights in the Tiger Temple underground fighting ring. He’s there to be unpopular and lose. This is where he makes the money and contacts for his revenge. Kings is an upmarket bar/restaurant/club/brothel/drug den; he arranges matters so that Queenie, who runs it, gives him a job.

Shakti and Singh are backing a Hindu Nationalist party and so some politics goes on at Kings as well. Kid gets himself promoted to waiter, sees a lot of what’s going on. He comes up with a plan to get a stray dog to bring him a gun and tries to assassinate Singh. He fails in a spectacular fight, and escapes, ending up in a temple that is a refuge for women and children and hijras, all being oppressed by followers of Shakti. There he trains and makes a new plan, being guided in a vision by Alpha the leader of the temple.

Kid fights in the Tiger Temple one more time, raising the money for the temple by betting on himself. Then, on election night, he returns to Kings for one more apocalyptic battle, to confront his enemies.

A violent action thriller, to begin with Kid is not very competent, getting by on luck and perseverance. And even later after the revelation/training montage, his victories often depend on those around him. A singular hero, yet it’s his kindnesses that build community that propel him to the final fights.

Watch This: Energetic revenge thriller deeply rooted in it’s Indian setting and concerns
Don’t Watch This: Violence only harms everyone