Cast: Saiba Babu, Salam Babu, Rashida Bee, Hazra Bi , Nafeesa Bi, Noam Chomsky
Director: Max Carlson
Country: USA | India
Genre: Documentary | History | News
Official Trailer: Here
Editor’s Note: Bhopali was released by IndiePix Films on February 14th, 2012
If ever there was a question about the relevancy of film as a populist artistic medium that has the power to change the world, it could be answered with a film like Bhopali. I merely hope that by giving this film some attention, I might be able to bring attention to one of the worst among countless human tragedies in the world. Bhopal, India was a site of an industrial accident by Union Carbide (now owned by DOW Chemicals) around twenty-five years ago, and the citizens of the area surrounding that accident are still feeling the impacts of the disaster daily. Let’s take political agendas out of the equation for a moment and think of it from a historical perspective. It is the fundamental duty of any society to ensure that there is safe access to water and air for all of its citizens. If we look at it from that perspective, we can understand the reasons that governments became a part of our evolution as a species, and chief amongst those reasons was to protect the rights of all people, especially those that could not do it for themselves. If this were not the case then there would be no reason for governments, as the strong and able-bodied would simply monopolize the resources and distribute them as they saw fit. The fundamental reasons that governments exist are to ensure that this does not happen. If anarchistic cultural Darwinism is your ethos, more power to you, but the fact of the matter is that governments do exist, and they are essentially responsible for the tragedy in Bhopal. Since governments are an extension of the people, all of humanity is to blame for allowing the tragedy to happen, and each and every one of us are essentially complacent in the contamination of the area that still impacts its population to this day.
Bhopali brings this tragedy directly to our hearts and minds as it puts a human face on those suffering from its impacts. These are not simply masses of people that we have nothing in common with as western media would likely portray them, these are families, these are human-beings that think and feel and live and love in exactly the same ways that we do.
Unfortunately for the citizens of Bhopal, we live in an era of civilization that is more concerned with the mitigation of liability than the protection and safety of individuals. Remove yourself from whatever political affiliation you ascribe to for just a moment and try to approach it from the perspective of a member of the human race. The careless industrialization that went on in Bhopal to exploit the area and its cheap resources should be an outrage to anyone that is a human-being capable of empathy. How could one look upon the tragic faces of children that struggle on with life despite the genetic abnormalities caused by exposure to toxins, or the devastation that the event would have on families as entire households were either wiped out overnight or over a long period of time from drinking the contaminated groundwater, and not feel some sort of emotion or responsibility? The problem is that there are so many tragic stories like this one around the world that it is easier to compartmentalize our empathy, and delegate smaller doses of our empathy and compassion to those that do not bear our same skin tone or cultural practices. We all construct barriers to protect ourselves from the tragedies of the world, simply because it is just too painful to let it all soak in.
Bhopali brings this tragedy directly to our hearts and minds as it puts a human face on those suffering from its impacts. These are not simply masses of people that we have nothing in common with as western media would likely portray them, these are families, these are human-beings that think and feel and live and love in exactly the same ways that we do. The cameras get painfully close to this tragedy, simultaneously filling the screen with the unique and wonderful textures and colors of the region, while making us look in to its citizens’ eyes directly, and we are forced to contend with their humanity. The cinematography is astounding, and the use of natural light brings profound beauty to this tainted landscape. It is mostly preoccupied with the faces of those impacted by this tragedy, but it dramatizes the events surrounding the initial gas leak in short animated sequences that flow seamlessly in to the rest of the film. The real power in the film lies in its unflinching gaze on humanity, as ultimately we are all responsible for these tragic events. There is some sort of twisted irony in a film about such tragedy being so marvelously shot, but each shot draws us ever closer to the people and places that have been permanently impacted by these events, and one feels compelled to help. This is film as its most powerful. This is film as a motivator for activism as it kicks you in the ass and makes you remember that your problems are trivial and that our species can be an ugly one at times.
The cameras get painfully close to this tragedy, simultaneously filling the screen with the unique and wonderful textures and colors of the region, while making us look in to its citizens’ eyes directly, and we are forced to contend with their humanity. The cinematography is astounding, and the use of natural light brings profound beauty to this tainted landscape.
Looking at these tragic but wonderful people of immense love and hardened spirit, one is compelled to ask “why?”. Why don’t these people simply move away from the region? Who is responsible and why aren’t they doing their part to clean the region? Where is India’s government in this mess? Asking “why” does nothing to give these people cleaner water or a more comfortable standard of living. Assignment of blame only leads to frustration, because civilization may not have a mastery of all things, but it has certainly figured out how to avoid and reassign blame until all hope is lost. Union Carbide, and those responsible for the decisions leading up to this tragedy will never be able to repay the damage that has been done. There is no justice in this kind of tragedy. We can change laws to stop exploitative industrialization of underdeveloped nations, but that doesn’t heal the damage that has already been done. Luckily, there is hope in humanity as activists and humanists have dedicated their lives to try and give these people some sort of peace in life. There is hope in filmmakers that choose to point their camera at such a worthy target to put a human face on the tragedy. They won’t change that which has already been done, but perhaps we can avoid these sorts of mistakes in the future. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one as I’m sure the course of humanity has plenty of other mistakes in store for us.
If you would like to learn more about or offer help to this cause, you can do so by visiting www.bhopal.org and www.chingaritrust.org.
DVD Extras:
The film is presented in gorgeous widescreen with a stereo soundtrack. There are no extras to speak of, but the film itself stands as an important piece of cinematic activism and cultural awareness.
[notification type=”star”]90/100 ~ AMAZING We can change laws to stop exploitative industrialization of underdeveloped nations, but that doesn’t heal the damage that has already been done. Luckily, there is hope in humanity as activists and humanists have dedicated their lives to try and give these people some sort of peace in life. There is hope in filmmakers that choose to point their camera at such a worthy target to put a human face on the tragedy. They won’t change that which has already been done, but perhaps we can avoid these sorts of mistakes in the future. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one as I’m sure the course of humanity has plenty of other mistakes in store for us. [/notification]
