The film is a hybrid of American cinema and Indian cinema. I don’t know what modern Indian cinema looks like, maybe it looks like that. In any case, there is even a mandatory program for songs and dances - but strictly in moderation.
A film about unusual children born on the night of Pakistan's independence. More specifically, about one of these “Midnight Children,” Salem Sinai, who has the most unusual ability—he can mentally communicate with others by organizing mystical “conferences.” Other things that only do not know - who is invincible in a fight, who owns magic, etc. Actually, these children become the personification of the fate of the people of Pakistan, it is not for nothing that the hunt for them begins.
The second semantic layer of the film is an attempt to show the fate of the country through the fate of one person, albeit extremely atypical - so even more interesting. Sinai’s biography is confusing since his birth: he is replaced in the maternity hospital, and, symbolically, replaced by a Hindu boy, and Salem’s parents are Muslims. The confused fates of Sinai and Shiva, unwitting brothers who became sworn enemies with age, become a metaphor for the relations between India and Pakistan, the Islamic and Indian population.
Surrounding people consider Salem crazy, because in childhood he, not yet knowing his capabilities, said that he hears “voices”. Because of his strange status, effectively an outcast in his own family, his life path is bizarre and unpredictable, giving the story a tragicomic hue. We can say that Sinai becomes a kind of Indo-Pakistani Forrest Gump, only, alas, not so lucky.
What is unlucky for film adaptations of works of “magical realism” is the display of “magical”. Recall at least the “House of Spirits” based on the novel by Isabel Allende – a similar story about a family in the years of historical turmoil – from which all the phantasmagorism inherent in Latin American literature was thrown out, leaving only a slight touch of mysticism. Judging by the reviews (I haven’t read the novel), “Midnight’s Children” suffered less, but the fantastic component was cut down. It seems that the directors of such films are either afraid that they will be mistakenly attributed to the “low” genre of fiction, or save on special effects – in any case in vain.
And in the rest - the actors play perfectly (especially it is worth highlighting the performers of the roles of Shiva, Parvati and uncle-military), cinematography at a height, the story is interesting, money for the shooting did not spare - an excellent tragicomedy on the materials of recent history. The only thing that is highly politicized is that Indira Gandhi, for example, is portrayed in an extremely negative light; but this is a matter of conviction. Personally, I will not say anything here - the history of India and Pakistan I know only in the most general terms. But someone's subjective view Rushdie can scare away.
Bottom line: a metaphorical history of India and Pakistan in the form of a family saga.
8 out of 10
Original