Review of Malayalam film ‘Ezra’

Ezra is a film about both black magic and the events of a Jewish family in 1940s Kerala; hence the name of the film, which derives from the name of a murdered scion of that family. At the same time, this movie is also about reincarnation and how the soul of a dead individual is transferred to another many, many years later.

This happens through the scenario of a young couple migrating from Mumbai to Cochin. Husband Ranjan Mathew (Prithviraj) works for a company that processes nuclear waste. She is the reincarnation of the murdered Ezra. Events are set in motion when his wife Priya (Priya Anand) buys an old box from an antique shop. The box, unknown to them, contains the spirit of the dead Ezra, which then proceeds to wreak havoc in the bungalow in Cochin where they live when Priya unknowingly opens the box and lets the spirit escape. Why the couple choose to live in a rented bungalow instead of a modern apartment like they were doing in Mumbai is never fully explained. Ranjan Mathew, being a Jew, on the advice of his father, meanwhile goes to consult some Jewish clerics about what can be done to avert calamity. On the way, Priya calls him to inform him that she is pregnant. The priest tells him that this is nothing more than an evil spirit about to be reborn.

With this disturbing news kept to himself, Ranjan Mathew returns to his abode in Cochin. Shortly after his plotting, the priest dies and his son, who is also a priest, lands there to see what can be done about it. In a gripping final scene where an exorcism is performed on Ranjan Mathew, it is revealed that he himself is the murdered Ezra. He then proceeds to attack the priests performing the exorcism, who meanwhile continually chant Torah. Ezra eventually perishes as the spirit leaves his body and returns to the box which is then quickly closed and plunged into the body of water where Ezra’s mortal remains lie. One can therefore think that everything ends well; except the box is again picked up by some bums further down the shore. Then the viewer’s imagination is left to conjecture what would happen, and thus the film ends.

This is merely a general summary and is for the viewer to look at to get a full idea of ​​the many details in between when watching the movie. Prithviraj stars as Ranjan Mathew and other notable performances include Tovino Thomas as a local policeman and Vijayraghavan as a priest. Not surprisingly, this film has been described in a recent review as a trend-setting Malayalam horror film. Packed with Hebrew dialogue with Malayalam subtitles, the horror scenes integrate well with the overall story.

To fully appreciate the film, one also needs to be aware of Kerala’s Jewish traditions, namely that after the dispersal of the Jews by the Roman empire in ancient times, they were reunited among other places in Kerala, where they continued with its unique lifestyle until the formation of Israel when everyone immigrated to that land and that the world’s oldest synagogue located in Kerala, the ‘Black Synagogue’ was also dismantled and reassembled in Israel in the last years of the 20th century; thus, as it were, decisively closing a chapter in the history of Judaism; although as this film shows, the cultural connections continue. This film is in part about one of the prominent traditions of Judaism; namely, that Jews are prohibited from marrying outside of their faith, unlike other Indian minorities, such as the Parsis, who do. As far as I know, there are no more Jews left in Kerala, although perhaps vestiges of their traditions can still be seen in places like Matancherry.