Throne of Death

Krishnan is a poor seasonal worker in a small village community on an island in Kerala. He can barely maintain his family, so he steals a few coconuts from a large landowner. He ends up in jail, is accused en passant of a murder that was committed on the island many years before and is sentenced to death. So far, Throne of Death is a realistic narrative in a rich and epic tradition. But the story takes an absurd turn when the village community and politicians start getting involved in the Krishnan case. The noose has just been abolished and replaced by the electric chair: an American invention that is praised in the newspapers as the way to a glorious death. With elections around the corner, politicians compete for the first death sentence carried out in the country in this way to be on the island. Krishnan’s friends want him to die as humanely as possible. But no one campaigns for his release. An honourable death, publicity for the island and international recognition are apparently more important than an innocent human life. Nair combines an ironic narrative style and a provocative subject with a calm, minimalist film style and great insight into human behaviour. Last year he won the Prix Camera d’Or at the Cannes festival for his first feature.