Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

barathisathya The best movie of 2015..........Mr Salim Ahmed has really done an amazing work........The way the story is brought up is in fact the real truth about its success...... A realistic story... The end makes our eyes filled with tears........I highly warn you that this movie should not be watched by weak heart ed people.... This is really a heart touching movie......Really an amazing movie... I bet that this movie will be loved by everyone...... I request you all to watch this movie............. It is a movie that should be rated as excellent............

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Salim Ahmed, I commend you for making a movie on the first illegal Malayali immigrants to the Gulf nations. It is such an interesting topic - from a cinematic point of view, the possibilities are endless. Somehow, this is a topic which Malayali filmmakers have often ignored. Sure there have been social satires like Visa, Akkare, Diamond Necklace and Arabi Katha. And comedy films like Nadodi Kattu and Madhura Naaranga.But here was a chance to make that one film that revealed all the suffering. And disappointment. A film about the prevalent social conditions that forced Malayali youth to jump onto an illegal ship. Live like animals on it. And then jump off it to swim to the Arab nations. Only to work like slaves in a hostile nation. Interacting with people from many other nations. So that they could send money back home. To relatives who did not care about them.I was damn interested when I heard about your movie, Ahmed. I said to myself, this could be that one Gulf Malayali movie to beat all the earlier ones. The one that really nails it. I missed it in the theatres, but I finally got to watch it yesterday on DVD. And I can safely say ..... this is not that movie.I mean, what the hell were you thinking man? The film starts off like a lot of other recent Malayalam movies where a narrator (who sounds like a news reader) hits us on the head with the social context of the film. And then you played that awful modern dance song during the titles. Wtf? The narration switches between the past and the present. The film is silent about the social conditions that forced Malayali youth to runaway to the Gulf nations. You have the usual trite scenes of poverty and unemployment.The scenes on the ship were mildly interesting but in the end they were marred by uninspired acting coupled with unimaginative writing. I mean, here were a bunch of young men on an adventure. There were so many interesting possibilities. But you just chose the dullest among them.Things don't really improve once the action shifts to the Gulf nation in which our protagonist Pallikkal Narayanan (played by Mamooty who sleepwalks through his role) works. How did he interact with his environment? Whom did he meet? The scenes are confined to the room in which he lives with other immigrants. It seemed like you were trying desperately to foreground the sacrifices of the protagonist.What could have been a great social adventure drama ends up as a weepy. How is this different from Vathsalyam? Best Regards, Pimpin.(5/10)

Cinish Narayanan "Pathemari" is a very studied thorough effort to portray the lives of those keralite men who leave their families away and move to the middle east to work and save their brethren from the clutches of poverty. Presented against thorough research with consistent content throughout the movie, it was a very satisfying movie watching experience.The movie starts with a fable like depiction of how Dubai came up followed by it's city sights. The movie then makes nice smooth transitions in time between past and present, telling the story of Narayanankutty ( played by Mammootty ) who, motivated by the abject poverty at home, takes the challenging and long journey across the seas on the pathemari( big boat) to find work in the middle east. The movie details out the specifics of the challenges of the journey, making some insincere attempts at using special effects to depict the sea storms which was probably the only thing that did not fall in place in the movie.Thereafter, the movie portrays how he wants to push the family out of poverty and get back home himself as soon as he can and how his family continues to push in more and more demands on him and he is essentially forced into fifty years of gulf life. The subtle family situations that he gets put into have been chosen out of real experiences of many many such gulf malayalees through all the detailed research that has clearly gone into making the movie.I would contend that each and every situation in the movie has been drawn out of real life, unaltered from multiple real people. There needs to be some conscious thought to understand someone who you do not see everyday. This movie is to push those thoughts into the minds of people who are not making the heart for them.Mammooty has acted really well and becomes Narayanankutty. His subtle acting stands out beautifully. Narayanankutty has almost found a place in my memories now. I really hope that this movie serves as an eye-opener and allows at-least a few 'Narayanankutty's a fairer go at life.The review would be incomplete without the mention of the songs penned by 'Rafeeq Ahammed' and music directed by 'Bijibal'. The lyrics capture the pain of the story so nicely that it can serve as a concentrate for the script. The music does great justice to the movie and adds another feather to my rising respect for Bijibal.

VisHnu S Fantastic movie from great director Salim Ahemed And Great actor MAMMOOTTY A best Class movie from Malayalam Pathemari is an interesting watch that tells you an already familiar story, but in a way that makes you sit up and realize that more often than not, the life of those we know living in the Middle East is not that cozy and comfortable as we often assume it to be. Or at least it was not for those who moved there before it became the buzzing urban centre it is today. A tribute to the hordes of Malayalis who leave home to go work in the Middle East to bring a better life to their families, Pathemari narrates the story of Narayanan (Mammootty) who travels to Dubai as a teenager and spends a major part of his life away from his parents, siblings, wife and children.As far as the narration goes, the film takes you through familiar territory, like what we have seen in films like Arabikkatha, but let's just say that Pathemari is highly laced with empathy. At the end of the film, you can't help feel empathetic about the suffering and chronic homesickness that every Gulf Malayali or any expatriate would be going through for that matter.Mammootty, as Narayanan, has delivered an impressive performance. You would really feel for this character who is caught between his own wishes and the needs of his family. Jewel Mary, as Narayanan's wife, has given a subtle yet strong touch to her character. One performance to watch out for is Siddique, who, despite very little screen time, has the most powerful lines and moments in the film.The director, Salim Ahamed, has narrated this story with a pace and style that is now familiar to us through his last two films Adaminte Makan Abu and Kunjanandante Kada. To note are some one-liners that subtly pass through the scene, but says more than entire scenes put together. Madhu Ambat's camera holds you down from the opening shot. The opening credits of the film show you Dubai in a way you've probably never seen the Emirate before. Resul Pookutty's sound shows through, especially the portions where the sea is involved. Bijibal's score is beautiful and unobtrusive. It serves as the right backing for the manner in which the story has been told. Vijay Shankar's editing is seamless as it takes you to and fro from Kerala in the 60s and forward to the present day.