In the Belly of a Tiger

A tiger is wreaking havoc in an Indian village. Deaths are becoming more frequent, but tigers are protected. As the farmers are not allowed to hunt them, they demand compensation from the government and receive it. The tiger’s life is now worth more than theirs. An elderly couple, Bhagole and Prabhata, newly returned to the village with their son and two granddaughters, now only own their house and the bull, after having sold their land to try their luck in the city. All they now have to offer is their labour, which makes them prone to blackmail, like everyone else in the village. The film clearly highlights the vicious cycle of exploitation at the local brick factory, but also devotes time to the relationships between the family members, allowing them to develop their ideas of value and reciprocity until these come to a head one desperate night when they have to decide: Can the family escape their fate if one of them “invests” their life? Caught between real events and the magical lotus blossoms from the belly of Lord Vishnu, Siddartha Jatla’s In the Belly of a Tiger is a poignant critique of capitalism. (Berlinale)