The Goat Life Movie Review: Prithviraj Sukumaran's Powerful Performance Shoulders Harrowing Survival Drama

Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life Review: Benyamin's novel Aadujeevitham is brought to life in distressing detail by filmmaker Blessy and renowned star Prithviraj Sukumaran in The Goat Life. The actor plays Najib, an Indian immigrant who travels to the Gulf for work. By a strange twist of fate, he ends up as a slave in the unforgiving desert. Based on a true story, Najib's ordeal and eventual escape makes up the bulk of this survival drama which is now out in theatres.

Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life Review: Plot

The simple Najib wants to provide for his wife Sainu (Amala Paul) and their expectant child. But communications issues after landing abroad, lead him to be taken away to a goat farm where he is tricked into servitude. The harsh conditions, the alien language and circumstances nearly break him until he receives a glimmer of hope with an escape plan across the desert. Najib's spirit somehow prevails before his body nearly collapses on him.

The Goat Life Movie Review: Writing and Direction

The ambitious feature immediately takes us into Najeeb's isolating world. Much of the Arabic dialogue is not translated for viewers adding to confusing state of not being understood. The vast desert conditions seem a little exaggerated by VFX at times, but it adds to Najib's confinement from the outside world. In the first half, Najib is continually made to feel less and in the second half, even a little dehumanised amongst the animals.

Blessy and his team have created a beautiful but heartbreaking tale about endurance. Najib suffers through physical and mental abuse at the hands of his employers and is even denied basic human requirements such as water. Editor A Sreekar Prasad neatly transitions between Najib's vivid past to his hopeless present to show how much he has lost. Time ceases to exist in this world and when we, along with Najib, find out how much time has passed, it's even more painful.

The film only features few characters as The Goat Life is centred around Prithviraj's Najib. The actor gives it his all for this life. The physical transformation into the second half is shocking, along with the many obstacles he has to face to escape. Saying little, the actor's expressions contain all the misery he is going through in the second half. The film rests entirely on his poignant performance. Jimmy Jean-Louis and KR Gokul who play Najib's mates Ibrahim Khadiri and Hakim respectively in this nightmare situation are equally good.

Aadujeevitham-The Goat Life Review: Critique

While the feature film has been beautifully framed by cinematographer Sunil KS, the situations in the second half keep circling back on the same point. It breaks the flow of the narrative at times. And once we reach the finale, it feels as we abruptly let go of the story and characters. However, the effort by the whole team is remarkable for this intense story, especially with Prithviraj's tremendous portrayal. This review is based on the Hindi dubbed version of The Goat Life.