“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

The entire runtime of Sandhya Sur’s Santosh that line of dialogue circulated through my brain repeatedly, as the film plunged the viewer into a morally grey world that was frightening and horrifying as its narrative threw us right into the brutal caste system of rural India, and the ongoing sexism that seems to permeate the story.

Santosh (Shahana Goswami) is recently widowed. Her husband served as a local police officer, with his death she is in danger of losing their government apartment, and any source of income. Through a strange law, known as a compassionate appointment, she, following training, is able to step into his position and serve the public.

It’s not long before she is exposed to the levels of brutality, corruption and bribery that seem to be everywhere, propagating within the rank and file of the entire police force.

When she brings a lower caste man in who is trying to file a missing person report for his daughter she sees how others are treated, how the police are only interested in working the cases of the upper castes, and that as long as someone, anyone, is arrested for the crime, things are okay.

When the missing girl turns up dead, she is shocked and troubled, even as she is guided in her actions by another female police officer, her superior, Sharma (Sunita Rajwar), who may be just as brutal and corrupt as her male counterparts.

A lead brings a person of interest onto her radar, but will it lead to the real truth or just a happy ending for the police to wrap up another case.

It’s a rough, morally ambiguous film that leaves the character tainted and sullied by what she has gone through. Goswami in a standout performance puts Santoshs’s struggle in every moment of her portrayal, she works to hold onto her moral compass, but against the seemingly insurmountable corruption, sexism, and horrific treatment of their fellows will she break or be able to find more to live for.

As the film closed out, that line circled through my mind again, “forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

Santosh screens Tuesday, Friday and Sunday at TIFF.