A stranger arrives in the dead of night, transforms himself into a charismatic trade union leader and organizes a strike in the local tile factory; the same man later declines into an ineffectual alcoholic. This—crudely put—is the basic premise of Mukhamukham (Face to Face, 1984), and the outsider, who is at its center, remains an enigmatic figure, his origins shrouded in mystery. In fact, during the course of the film, he becomes increasingly opaque and unreadable until we even begin to doubt his existence. This sense of unreality is in keeping with Gopalakrishnan's investigation of a community in a state of deep crisis that prefers to invest in the imaginary rather than in the hard facts of their failure. Refusing to acknowledge responsibility for their own actions, they turn to an illusory hope of redemption. By setting the film in Kerala during the politically turbulent '50s and '60s, Gopalakrishnan captures both the euphoria of radicalism as well as the fallout that is inevitable. The crisis he describes is not merely ideological but relates to all levels of a society paralyzed by its own incapacity to live up to its cherished ideals. Even more distressing is the community's inability to forge new values and create a concrete agenda for change. Subsequently, the stranger is expected to sustain their illusions and, in the process, becomes one himself, put on show by a people who have compromised their sense of reality.

The film covers two important periods. The first half ends in 1955, when the Communist Party had made major gains in the state and was poised to win the elections in 1957. The second half is set in 1965, at a time of great disillusionment following the 1964 break-up that led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M). The split created a divided society that Gopalakrishnan describes as “spiritually inept and morally confused,” with each faction accusing the other of being “revisionist.”