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A Film from the
A producer called me yesterday and asked me if I had a story for a film to be shot in India. I said depends… what is it for?
He said well I have some people who are interested in making ‘interesting’ films from the ‘South’.
That’s the politically correct term for the third world originally coined by the Che, but now used by all, even the CIA.
I said sure, great!
But I am scared, I have heard this before. It is a well-known fantasy of the aging white European male producer to make a film in India. I was told once by a producer I met: the context is boy meets girl… sorry old European man meets young nubile poor Indian girl. The man is successful, has had a long uneventful marriage, grown-up children but something is missing in his life. He lands in India on some stupid pretext, (easy) and meets this poor young beautiful chokri who teaches him some tricks from the first chapter of the Kamasutra. Man is rejuvenated but ultimately has to go back. Blood is thicker than tanker ka pani! But the man changes his view of the world and goes back to his botoxed wife and gives 20 quid every month to an orphan child in Bihar. Oh yeah, he does Yoga too!
This is the film to make, guys… I refuse to do it!
I don’t want to waste my time; I am very busy these days.
I am fitting a new kitchen in my flat. My partner (that’s the politically correct term for boy/girlfriend, husband/wife) and I are very busy choosing the tiles for the walls. We would love to have coloured glass splash backs but they are bloody expensive. The new fridge that was delivered has the door opening on the wrong side. So not wanting to lose out on a much needed option cheque, I engage my producer further into the conversation.
I say to him, tell me exactly what kind of film you are looking for. He says well, you know social, hard hitting, and realistic story in today’s India, the one that is going to break this ‘impasse’ that Indian cinema has struck on the international market. Give me a reference, I say. He says, you know stories about what is happening there, with the galloping economy and the growing divide between the rich and the poor. I push harder: give me the name of a film as a reference. He says ‘City of God’ … Then he adds mixed with ‘Hava Aney Dey’.
Oh! And I thought that happened only in Bollywood!
Sometimes in life it is very difficult to keep a straight face when you haven’t seen ‘the’ film.
I mean, City of God
I say hmm, sure I see what you mean.
Fish! I missed that one. I was shooting Hava those days in Mumbai!
I tell him that I have to go because the plumber has just arrived, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible. He says he will call me on Monday to continue the chat.
I put down the phone, put on my parka and race down on my bicycle to the DVD shop. Thank God! Lil’ Dice points his gun at me his ebony skin shining with sweat.
The film starts… I like the use of colours to differentiate the times, a good use of photographic memory, warm and de-saturated for the sixties and then the seventies with a cyan tint. (They used gleaming skin make-up on the black actors to reflect the light, a trick used by colonial photographers to film ‘non-white’ subjects.)
While the film is technically perfect, with great performances from the non professional actors, I was puzzled. Was the film trying to reflect on the lives of the poverty ridden favela inhabitants of the City of God as Paulo Lins’s autobiographical story that involves more than three hundred and fifty characters did? Does the director Fernando Meirelles, a white privileged upper-class director of advertising commercials from Sao Paulo, really have an unbiased view of life in the favelas of Rio? Is that why we never understand the motivations of the characters in the film version of City of God? Lil’ Zé is just a blood thirsty black man; he just murders and robs for fun? The image of the ‘South’ and its barbarian people, about dark-skinned savages killing, maiming and murdering, like Kipling’s ‘sullen peoples’, ‘half devil - half child’ from The white man’s burden.
The film never tries to reveal or question the inequality of Brazilian society, divided across class and race, evident in the film where most of the favela inhabitants are black and mixed race while the ruling upper class are white (Like the people who work at the newspaper where ‘Rocket’ finds his fame and the corrupt policemen). Does it feed people in the West with the images they need to make them feel their lives are better than those in the ‘South’ thus justifying their domination? City of God leaves me sad, angry, irate, perplexed and confused.
The plumber is here! I must decide on the colour of the tiles. And then I must write a story for a film from the ‘South’…
19 Responses to “A Film from the”
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Partho daa,
I’ve seen Clips from your film “Hawa aane de” Mast hai,..
I really love it,.
I want to make Film on Making “Macher Jhole”,..
And I want to Eat
:)
Parthoda
[ PSG is a techie college in Coimbatore! ]
Please elaborate on that line of thought
“City of God leaves me sad, angry, irate, perplexed and confused.”
When I first watched it I loved it just as so many did but I heard voices of dissent and what you say is making sense but need more to fully comprehend… Help!
[ Just as my love for ManiRatnam in my adolescent phase has now been banished to the backwoods with better understanding of 'cinema' ]
@ partho -
will u be at the NY screening of Hawa? I will be there. Hope to see you. good luck.
@Kavita
The film in question was celebrated as the coming of new cinema from the ‘South’. The Oscar nominations, golden Globe, Bafta etc and then like I said in my blog, it is always thrown back as an example of the kind of cinema the West expects film-makers of the ’south’ to make. So such an exploitative film becomes the ideal of cinema you and me have to make, because we are powerless as we have no support whatsoever from the state or from own industry and have to rely on the colonial funds and pittances to make films. And if such a film does get a Palme d’or one day, the same state and industry will attach thelmselves to you and claim the fame. So is it worth our while to try and dream to make a good meaningful film despite everybody against you?
:-?
Partho Da
I just saw 2 scenes of Hava on youtube. Now its my most eagerly awaited film. When will it get screened in LA?
BTW I really love CITY OF GOD. By I agree with the issues you have with the film. But its too entertaining for me. :)
I will try to finish a script by the time you happen to be in LA. I think you might like my ideas.
What color did you decide? Or rather whose choice prevailed? You or your partner’s?
@Mainak
Thanks bro!
Don’t know about LA yet but will let you know.
or DVD releases in the US mid 2008 from http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/
You guys should buy and support cinema or it will die.
BTW We don’t have to go the Colosseum to be entertained.
Roger!
Orange and white
Joint decision!
She did have the last say :d
ParthoDa
Thanks for that link. Will check it out later after work. I am watching THREE KINGS right now.
Have you seen it? If yes, Whats your opinion on it?
Who is she?
Who is Roger?
What orange & White?
Three Kings (No haven’t seen, not my style)
I watch atleast one film a day this one is way below in my list! [-x
Who is she?
My partner
Who is Roger?
Rabbit =))
I meant Okay for your script!
What orange & White?
The final colour of the tiles!
Hai Hai Mainak! Bacchay, Roger is what we used in our bachpan to mean YO!
Parthoda: thanx for the South-ern input,
so is Hava Aanay De with them or INSPITE of ‘them’? Will watch it anyway which way , intriguing after the brief dekko you gave us…..All The Best!
@ partho -
do i get any special treatment at MoMA because I am going on ur account? thot i wud ask….
@ mainak -
Three Kings was a spec re-written by David O’Russell. I like it. It was originally called Spoils of War or something. check out the original script if u get a chance. the final film is better than the original script, but the original had a better ending.
@Partho
What movies are on top of your lists?
Where do you live?
I watch 1 film a day also. Its a good life. No matter how bad things are for the rest of the 22 hrs.:)
What do you think of Salaam Bombay?
And Bombay Boys?
Try Three Kings. Its a very smart film. A anti War statement disguised as a Treasue Hunt film. Thats why it got away. Its the only Gulf War film I know of produced by the Studio. But its also a White Man’s perspective. Things get absurdly stupid at times & it can be percieved as very racist at time. Just like your CITY OF GOD. But the White man has a right to his perspective. Isnt it?
@ Dabba
Have u seen that video fo Russell & Lily on the sets of I HEART HUCKABEES?
I bet u have:)
@mainak1
I HEART HUCKABEES! Great film… The kind of USian* film I love. (*with respect to Chavez and all the others from the American continent). but I haven’t seen the Video on the sets of…
For an anti-war film from the WESTern perspective I prefer JARHEAD. An anarchic film.
sure bro, everyone has the right to their perspective, but to force the others to only see by their own is the problem.
I’ll make you a list one of these days. I am about to sit down and watch my after dinner film. Tonight is ‘MUSIC BOX’ by Costa Gravras
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100211/
Last night I saw a great documentary called GREY GARDENS by the Meyseles brothers. A complete trip! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073076/
and another masterpiece doc with VOYAGE IN TIME
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_in_Time
by A. Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra (scriptwriter & poet of Antonioni, Fellini & Angelopoulos)
:)
@kavita
You tell me… I can’t give all the answers. l-)
Love to hear what you think.
@dabba
I don’t think I can do anything at the MoMA.
Furthermore, You must buy tickets and support Art cinema. Otherwise there is no hope. I always pay to watch my fellow independent film-makers films. I think it is good politics to do that.
*I have put another scene from Hava on the Hava NY post… check it out!
@Partho
I agree. I heart Huchabees was a fantastic film. Jude Law & Marky Mark’s Best roles in their careers. Well If you like a film like JARHEAD, you should push THREE KINGS to the top of your list.
I watched parts of GREY GARDENS. I was bored. Its a very good documentary because the subject is fascinating. My problem with Grey Gardens is that I don’t care about anyone on screen. But Long Island accent is one of my fav accents in the world. Out on top with African & French accents. Just for that I wanna move to NY.
But Albert Maysles is the father of Cinema Verite.Maybe Thats why. I just don’t get why Grey Gardens is such a great film. I will watch it again sometime. I was also in a bad mood that night. His PRIMARY is one of my fav documentaries. SALESMAN is amazing. Gimme Shelter… Its a huge list.
Thanks for all those movies. Will put them in my list. Costa Gavras’s Z is probably one of my fav political films I have seen in past few years. My only problem was the language. Why was it in French when it was about Greece. I hate when that happens.
My lunch movie today is
ONLY HUMAN [Seres queridos (2004)]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376177/
Its a really funny film. Dabba must watch it.
My Dinner movie is
Basquiat (1996)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115632/
That will finish all of Schnabel’s films for me. His DIVING BELL was really beautiful. Did you watch that?
@Partho
You didn’t give your opinion on SALAAM BOMBAY & BOMBAY BOYs. :)
And the City you are living in these days?
BTW
Talking about Chavez… I just finished reading ROBERT BAER’s Sleeping With the Devil.
One of the 2 books SYRRIANA was based on. Its a very interesting read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baer
@Mainak
I prefer to not talk about films of people I know.:d atleast not in Public. The last time I did that on PFC, I got thrashed by their fans.:):-??
My greatest documentary or one of my favs is
Route one/USA by Robert Kramer 1989-255 minutes + Dear Doc- 35mins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098227/
Check it out.
I live in the UK in Brighton, since the last one year. Before I lived in Paris for 15 years and before that in Mumbai.
Talk to you soon! Goodnight!
@ Partho
fair enough. I suspected exactly what you said ;)
About your opinion on films & the places u lived/live.
Will check out the Documentary
And this is that video I was talking about. There’s a joke in Hollywood that Clooney had planted a hidden camera on the sets of HUCHABEE because he knew something like this is bound to happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86s4Vq59Ks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-4_OsaA3pE&feature=related
@Partho,
it was interesting to read your judgement on City of God. I read similar cricism from others too. What I felt, CoG is a realistic, straight depiction of the Rio favela. It chose not to concern itself with the background for the situation but the situation itself. Isnt that a director’s cinamtic licence? Was it really important to show Little Zé’s background? The set up of the film was enough to suggest the environment in which he grew up. It was no surprise that most of the kids witnessing violence everyday will shape up that way. Any explicit depiction of socio-political background of the situation would have transformed the film into a typical tear-shedding affair.
Every director making a film on exploited people can be accused of being exploitive themselves. You can never prove or disprove these accusations. Pather Pachali was criticized for not showing the real reason behind the plight of the rural bengali people, rather relishing the beautiful, cinematic scenes of the poverty. Satyajit Ray was criticized by the left intellectuals for being a typical elite and and not doing anything substantial for the poor rural people of bengal through his films. It is difficult to say what were Ray’s intentions but it has nothing to do with the superiority of Pather Pachali.