Elippathayam (Translation: The Rat Trap) is a 1981 Malayalam film written and directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It stars Karamana Janardanan Nair, Sharada, Jalaja, and Rajam K. Nair. The film documents the feudal life in Kerala at its twilight overshadowed with grief, and a sense of carelessness/avoidance as a form of revolt. The protagonist is disenfranchised and trapped within himself and does not want to - unable to change with the social changes taking place around him. The film premiered at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. It was also screened at the London Film Festival where it won the Sutherland Trophy. It is widely regarded as one of the best Indian films ever made. Plot A middle-aged man Unni and his two sisters live in an ancient tharavadu (manor) in Kerala. They struggle as the traditional feudal way of life becomes untenable. Eventually, succumbing to the adverse conditions surrounding him, Unni becomes entrapped in his attitudes & ways, helpless like a rat in a trap. The movie's title 'Rat Trap' is a metaphor for a state of oblivion to changes in the external world, such as the disintegration of the feudal system in which some are caught leading to irrelevance & destruction. The film is set in the now derelict manor house of an aristocratic family, that has obviously seen better days. The film begins by showing the audience about a rat problem, and Sridevi taking initiative to catch and drown rats in the house. Unni, the patriarch, in spite of the looming changes in the family's fortune and the times, retains the old attitudes and is portrayed as proud, and incapable of adjusting to the impending downfall of his family and remains oblivious to it. He also does not seem to have any masculine, authoritative characteristics of a feudal patriarch. He is seen spending most of his day in idleness and sleeping. His only activities are reading the newspaper and oiling himself. He is taken care by his sisters and an old agriculture partner & neighbor, Scaria Mappila. His sisters cook, clean, and do all the household chores for him. He seems careless about wanting to get his sisters married, and selfish in order to keep his support system in place. The Mappila handles all the financial aspects for Unni following ancient ways. Unni is scared and not bothered when thieves steal crops from his land, even when his younger