Helen (2019 | Malayalam) Review... A fine survival thriller, but an excellent human drama

Anna Ben and Noble Thomas in 'Helen'

**Spoilers ahead**
If we take a look at the survival thriller genre there are not many examples in the Malayalam industry. The last time we got to see a survival thriller was the worst of its kind Neerali (which ironically I couldn't finish cause it was so bad and derailed from the survival side of the story at times and cringe-worthy effort to recreate the Nokketha Doorath Kannum Nattu charm). Now after a wait of a whole year, a whole new tale of survival thriller is up on the town, Helen. The film had been making the audience curious from the time its poster released which showed a girl covered in what seems to be wrapping paper. When I first saw this poster the immediate thought was this was a crime thriller or a psycho-thriller and its a kidnapping story. Then when its trailer released I thought I might get answers to my questions in them. At the beginning of the trailer, the filmmakers made me think that its a family story that says that it has some women empowerment in the story. Then it turned into a thriller mode and made me think of it as a crime thriller in a foreign land.

The portrayal of Aju Varghese of a police officer was also an attractive feature of the film. while seeing the trailer I thought he had a protagonist who was smart and lawful officer who investigates the case of Helen's missing like the investigation officers played by actors in the industry throughout the history of Mollywood rather than the antagonist who is a cunning, and unlawful officer who he actually portrays. The trailer has also done quite a bit to make the audience feel a bit suspicious of the love interest played by Noble Thomas in the film. The shots that show the struggling Helen actually makes the audience think that she is heavily beaten by someone in the film. The editor has done a great job of concealing the story away from the audience viewing the film.

The old saying the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree is completely wrong in this scenario to cause the trailer is far from the film and that too in a good way. Usually, when this happens the trailer tends to get better than the whole film but not in this case. In this case, the film has a great trailer and a greater film to show for the audience and more than that a survival thriller that has not only good content but a great making and craft which if said in Literary terms a golden feather to not only Mollywood but a film on which the whole of Indian cinema can be proud of. Films such as Helen that are so finely crafted are what make a difference in the industry.

Poster

The film is also showing a different side of the situation when a guy and girl are caught wandering around in the night through the character of the sub-inspector played by Aju Varghese when he could have let Helen and Azhar (Noble Thomas) but simply thought of defaming the morals of Helen by calling up her dad and creating a scene, which can be said as a reflection of the blind patriarchal society's view on the girls who are out of their house at the society's so-called odd hours. The film doesn't try to focus on the empowerment part of the character of Helen when she is locked up in the freezer, but rather it shows different shades of her emotions.

When the film first shows the entrance of the mouse in the freezer the filmmakers make us think the animal is coming to bite off something like the cardboard box which Helen uses to keep her warm but in a split second just like Helen realizes the audience also is having a light of enlightenment that all the mouse wanted was some heat. Then, the filmmakers tricks the audience into thinking that just like in the film Life of Pi, directed by acclaimed director Ang Lee we get to see a surviving of a man and an animal in distress and makes the mouse a short-lived character in the movie (again an excellent way of showing the horror of the situation) when the mouse goes out into the cold when Helen became unconscious and died in the cold.

The scene where the mouse dies even makes the audience feel sadness and sympathy for the mouse (a great example of writing a character into a story) Even the short cameo done by Vineeth Sreenivasan is a great example of how even a small character can make a big impact on the story. The film shows her internal struggle as well as the external struggle that she is facing in the freezer of the chicken hub (which is yet again a great example of very well refined script work and direction). In the film, Helen's blackouts in the freezer show a little Helen Playing with her dad which clearly indicates that all she wants or rather thinks even in this grave situation is about her father.

In the final blackout when she is about to lose hope and is giving up her struggle she sees an image in which she is hugging her dad and smiling at her lover which shows her final desire is to have a bond between her dad and her lover. Which she ultimately gets to see in her hospital bed and rejoices on her rest period. Also, the final scene when Helen's dad played by Lal asks the security guard how he knew her daughter was inside and his answer to it is an eye-opener to the audience that people should walk looking at the faces around them rather than at the ground, a message that gives the impression of a cherry on the top of the icing kind of feeling to the whole film.