Review: The Forest (2006)

[Steve Rhodes]

THE FOREST
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

I am always impressed when filmmakers attempt something really difficult and 
pull it off.  There are few things harder than a film shot mainly in the 
natural light of the full moon in a dense forest.  If you use natural 
lighting, as THE FOREST does, the net result is that the audience becomes 
clueless as to what is happening, since they can't see much.  On the other 
hand, if a lot of artificial light is thrown in, the look is unnatural, 
plus, if you're trying to induce fear, the extra lights work against 
creating the intended mood.

Written and directed by Ashvin Kumar, THE FOREST, while sometimes being hard 
to see, manages to be quite successful and downright creepy too.  The effect 
is dramatically enhanced by some classic sounding movie music devised by 
Matt Robertson.  He puts you in a dream-like state, while making your 
subconscious put itself on high alert.

We follow Radha (Nandana Sen) and her husband Pritam (Ankur Vikal), two 
beautiful Indian socialites, as they go to spend a few days and nights in 
the forest observing the wildlife.  Since there is a man-eating leopard on 
the prowl, Bhola Ram (Tarun Shukla), the local game warden, demands that 
they leave.  But, since the couple's old friend from college, Abhishek 
(Javed Jaffrey), and his son Arjun (Salim Ali Zaidi) live nearby, Radha and 
Pritam go on a wildlife tour anyway, ignoring the warnings.  The movie 
starts by pointing out that tigers and leopards, whose habitat is being 
encroached upon, actually kill about 300 people every year.

In no time, the story dissolves into a frightening love triangle, as old 
wounds resurface.  Radha dated both men back in college, and she still loves 
them both, creating a lot of tension, especially when a very hungry leopard 
shows up wanting to eat them all.

Suffice it to say that it's pretty intense and that few characters make it 
out unscathed.  You may leave kind of frightened too.

THE FOREST runs a chilling 1:28.  The film is mainly in English but there is 
some Hindi as well, and both appear with English subtitles.

The film was shown as part of San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival 
(www.Cinequest.org), which ran February 25-March 8, 2009.

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