Savitri: When You Have to Argue With Death

Is Savitri worth your time today? That depends entirely on how much patience you have for movies that move at the speed of a shifting glacier. If you enjoy mythology or just want to see how cinema looked before everyone was obsessed with quick cuts, you’ll probably find this charming. If you need explosions or a plot that isn't essentially a three-act moral lesson, you are going to hate it. 🍿

It’s really all about that central standoff. Watching a mortal woman square off against Yama, the head of the underworld, feels bizarrely intimate. It isn’t an action movie, obviously. It’s a debate. A very high-stakes, spiritual debate.

The pacing is… well, it’s ancient. There are moments where you can almost hear the gears of the camera grinding away. The actors have this way of projecting their voices that makes you feel like you’re sitting in the back row of a very quiet, very dusty theater. It’s not necessarily bad, just very theatrical.

I found myself staring at the background details more than the actual drama at times. The sets have that painted-on, artificial quality that makes everything feel like a dream. It reminded me a bit of the atmosphere in A Severa, where the environment does as much work as the lead actors. Except here, the stakes are cosmic.

One reaction shot goes on for way too long. I’m talking forever. It’s almost funny how the camera just refuses to cut away, forcing you to really sit with the actor's intense, wide-eyed expression. You can almost feel the movie trying to convince you that this single glance is the most important thing in the world.

The dialogue is thick with archaic phrasing. It’s heavy. It’s poetic, sure, but it’s the kind of poetry that makes you want to take a nap if you haven't had your coffee. You have to meet this movie halfway. If you don't commit to the vibe, the whole thing just turns into wallpaper.

There’s a weird stillness to the whole thing. Like, the wind doesn't even seem to blow in the afterlife. It’s very sterile. It lacks the grit you’d see in something like Men of Steel, but that’s clearly not what they were going for. This is a fable, not a gritty documentary.

Is it a masterpiece? Probably not. Is it fascinating to look at? Absolutely. It’s one of those films that exists in a bubble of its own making. It doesn't care if you're bored. It just wants to tell its story. And honestly, there’s something kind of refreshing about that in an age of constant noise.

Notes from the margin:

• The makeup on Yama is… a choice. Very theatrical.
• The lighting makes everyone look like they are perpetually standing in a spotlight.
• I’m pretty sure the same painted tree appears in three different scenes.
• It’s definitely shorter than the modern "epic" slogs we get now. Thank goodness for that.