Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu

Rakshadhikari Baiju never feels like a film, that may be the best and the worst part of the film. It feels like the lives of a small village of Kerala is portrayed without adding anything to it. That is other than focusing on a character in his mid 40's who carries the film as he lives as a mentor for the youngsters of the village without losing the naughtiness of a kid in his mind. But probably for anyone who has not seen that kind of life, this may look like a bunch of events with an aimless direction. But for those who have lived this life, it is a poignant story of a village succumbing to the urbanisation that is creeping up everywhere. One of the best things about this film is that whichever scene it is you have a feeling that there is a different story right around there if the camera just turns from one side to the other; each frame is so detailed, not for foreshadowing a plot point or filling with Easter eggs, but for making the audience believe in that village. The only real problem for me was the editing; if the editing was a bit tighter; if the overlong runtime was cut down through just simple editing this could have been a great film, still a very good film.