FILM | DRAMA
Based on the award-winning novel by Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger (Netflix) is a rags-toriches story about an Indian villager, Balram (Adarsh Gourav), who moves to the city to work as a driver for a rich family. Balram devotes himself to his employers in the spirit of complete servility, until he finds himself exploited beyond reason. He rebels by turning himself into a white tiger: a rare creature of immense and ruthless strength who lives by the law of the jungle.
Director Ramin Bahrani allows Balram’s character a short reference to another film about India: Slumdog Millionaire. However, as events take a very different turn, we are invited to see Balram’s story less as a fairy tale and more as a fable. Films that refer to narrative conventions such as the fable can be problematic because they create a distance between viewer and story. Fortunately, like its hero, The White Tiger is not afraid of its own ambitions. It speaks truth by asking questions about power and exploitation that have no easy answers, leaving us both engaged and thoughtful.