Curry & Cyanide : The Jolly Joseph Case(Netflix)
Directed by Christo Tomy
Rating: ** ½
Why do we take so much interest in other people’s misery? What make u sit glued for hours watching people do cruel evil things to others? While watching truelife crime dramas which side are we really on? And isn’t the enjoyment of a crime dramas a crime, albeit a moral one?
Such thoughts came to mind while watching Netflix’s latest real-life crime drama based on the Jolly Joseph case. For those who came in late, Jolly is accused of killing six members of her husband’s family, including the husband, by cyanide poisoning.
Having sat through the documentary I still can’t figure out why a woman would do this to a loving caring family. Just because you don’t like your inlaws you beome an outlaw?There are lengthy interviews with those close to Jolly(an ironical name , considering how little joy she brings to the people around her) such as her sister-in-law, brother-in-law and most heartbreakingly her son whose mortification is perceivable at having to come to terms with the fact that his mother is a coldblooded murderer and then having to explain on camera why she might be what she is.
Some things are beyond human comprehension. Lust for wealth and power are among the most basic human frailties.Netflix’s other far more vivid and haunting crime docu-drama Dancing On The Grave was much more than an engrossing true-crime series.It was a cautionary tale , one so balanced and non-judgemental that even the honorable judge who makes an appearance at the end, is given a chance to explain why this crime fell into the ‘rarest of rare’ category.
There is no sense of justice served cold or hot, in Curry & Cyanide. We never know how the accused’s mind worked when she planned and plotted her victims’ dinnertable demise. Is Jolly a victim of her own ambitions?
Or does she have a criminal mind? That’s what she tells her sister-in-law when the game is over for her.Curry & Cyanide leaves us with too many unanswered questions about how the criminal mind works within the normal comforting ambience of domesticity .
Sorry, I was neither moved nor appalled by Ms Jolly’s criminal mind.There is very little of her here.