Kaala

Brilliant, miracle, Trojan horse film. In 2018 India, megastar Rajnikanth is a right wing Tamil nationalist calling for "anti-social elements...[to be] dealt with an iron hand" and is getting this film banned by other right wing nationalists. Yet somehow he stars here as the literal incarnation of anarchy and Dalit urban revolution overshadowed by the people's mutual aid itself. And it broke even. "Black is the color of the proletariat" and all leaders and the Hindu nation will be swept away

i watched this and PETERLOO back to back and, speaking as a total mike leigh homer, this kinda blew that shit away. a glorious action musical with the most instantly iconic hero/villain duo in recent memory, a burst of agitprop so blazing and inspiring it's hard to imagine how it could possibly have been funded.