Nearly all of the violence in Pedro is hidden from the camera. After a gunshot in the dark, a cow’s cry is heard. But the next morning, you only see the ends of its legs tied to be carried away. Pedro, the man accidentally killing the cow, would be beaten where it hurts most – under the feet. But as soon as the policeman asks for a thicker baton, the camera skips the scene. It is all very well that the tragedy of Pedro, forced to be an outcast after an accident with a gun, is made easier to look at. However, the lack of visuals or cries of pain does not make Pedro’s misery seem any less. In a rather slow-paced script, young director Natesh Hegde manages to say much about life in a remote Karnataka village, where one man’s rather dark fate represents many Indian lives.
It came as a surprise that the film, which received recognition internationally, was not chosen for the Bangalore International Film Festival this year. It had premiered at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival in South Korea last October. There were speculations that the film didn’t make it to BIFF because of its ‘religiously sensitive’ content, but these were not confirmed by the organisers. However, days after the controversy, Pedro was screened at the 26th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram.
Pedro, the title character in the film, had until the fateful day of the accident, been leading a peaceful life as a lineman, marred only by the night visits of his estranged brother spouting loud curses outside the door. The brother’s wife had left him and came to live with Pedro with her child. Pedro is very close to the child – a little boy who hardly has a word to say, but is the only expressive one among the lot. In a crucial scene, he is seen offering his hand to a completely lost Pedro.
Watch: Trailer of Pedro
The hardships and injustices that life has to offer must be a daily reality for men like Pedro, who are treated poorly for the jobs they do or the castes they are born into. But the complete lack of emotion on the screen comes across as far-fetched at times, to the extent that Pedro’s wife has not a single thing to say when he announces his new job as a guard at the nearby landlord’s farm. The landlord’s (named Hegde) character is curiously scripted. In the early part of the film, he seems like a nice and helpful man, rather meek in his manners. But as the story proceeds, more sides of his character are revealed and, just as softly as before, he begins to utter ultimatums.
The cow story, however, is not quite the blow you fear it to be. Pedro does disappear briefly to escape angry villagers’ wrath. You fear the worst when one character, particularly offended by Pedro’s act, shows the landlord a video of what would have happened to a man in Pedro’s place if he was in another state. But Pedro gets to show his face in society again, although he is cast aside everywhere.
You learn more of Pedro when he refused to take any act of indifference lightly, reacting on the spot. It goes out of hand one night, when blood is spilled.
Gopal Hegde is wonderful as the rather unemotive Pedro who, unlike his younger brother, keeps his sentiments in check. The only time Pedro shows pain is when he loses his pet or talks about the child. There is so much silence in the film, that it almost looks staged at times. It is a comfort when Pedro’s wife Julie finally speaks a few lines in the latter half of the film.
Despite its slow pace, the viewing experience remains satisfying, helped by the panning visuals of the village, the rain drenched muddy roads, and the vast fields that Pedro guards. The magic of the script is in keeping the viewer tense at crucial moments without gimmicks. Even in the face of tragedy, the impassiveness of those present makes the moment sadder. Natesh Hegde’s film is, in many ways, admirable.