Director Lenin Bharathi said he had lost more than twenty kilos of his weight in the process of making and releasing his much-acclaimed film Merku Thodarchi Malai (The Western Ghats). No wonder I could not readily recognise him from the photos of him I had seen on the web; Also no wonder his efforts are visible on screen in his intense, left-leaning and poetic film. The director had come as the chief guest at the screening of an Australian production, Rabbit-Proof Fence (Eng & Aboriginal language/Philip Noyce/2002). Set in 1931, the plot traces the 1500-mile homeward journey of three 'half-caste' girls of the stolen generation after they escape an English-run camp. The kids born to a white and a native (Aboriginal) parent are referred as 'half-caste' children. The plan of the white settlers was to forcibly take away such kids from their homes, put them in a camp, raise them inculcating English manners and marry them off to a white - in an apparent attempt to cleanse them of their Aboriginal blood, and transform them into whites over three generations of such selective breeding. In short, it is westernisation in its most cruel form. Based on true incidents, and the book by a daughter (Doris Pilkington) of the eldest of the three girls, Rabbit-proof Fence explores the theme of racism and its ruthlessness; and also the power of love and identity that makes one do the impossible. Yes, the girls (Molly, 12, Gracie, nine and Daisy, eight) walked the entire distance snubbing the unforgiving sun and punishing deserts.
The film is a visually impressive piece of work. Supported by mesmerising music and extraordinary performance the movie transports us to the harsh lands of Western Australia. Talking of Merku Thodarchi Malai, it is known that maestro Ilayarjaja gives utmost importance to silence. But with MTM I felt there was an extra dose of silence and as a whole the back ground music had taken a backseat. In the panel discussion, when one of the participants posed the same question to Bharathi, the director had a different take. He said his creation did not actually require Ilayaraja to create the background score, and in fact his creation could stand alone without music. But, the commercial compulsions required to 'package' a film forced him to take the maestro on board. And even after such decorations it took almost three years for the finished movie to hit the screens. It is a great struggle for genuine films to see the light of the day in Kollywood. Idealistic and iconoclastic, when talking about the leading heroes of Tamil film industry Bharathi did not mince words - he blamed them squarely for the kind of crass creations the industry rolls out week after week.
In Rabbit-proof Fence, there is a particular scene where the forcibly snatched girls are brought to the camp, and there is a Christian nun clad in her white attire to receive them. The children get so shocked at the mere look of the nun, they think she was a ghost. The scene symbolically resembles the final 'arrival' scene of Apocalytpo (Mayan/Mel Gibson/2006) - the protagonist (Jaguar Paw) and the two men chasing him to death are stunned at the sight of the ships and boats anchored on their shores; in one of the boats that is about to touch land we see a priest-like man holding a huge black cross. Such elegant scenes have the capacity to convey a lot in a matter of a few seconds - the inextricable link of state-religion-trade; the very same dangerous link that made one half of the world work like beasts for the other half. The screenplay also candidly gives importance to the psychological defence mechanism that play in the minds of the white officers. A.O.Neville (Protector of Western Australian Aborigines, played by Kenneth Branagh) keeps reassuring that the barbaric acts they do were purely in the interest of the Aborigines. Without such camps, the Aborigines '..are a danger to themselves'. But all these themes apart, just as a movie Rabbit-proof Fence is a beautiful creation from a pure heart. It leaves you joyed and hopeless at the same time.
Cinema Rendezvous, a club that promotes world cinema in Chennai with its monthly screening and follow-up discussion had organised the show. Well done!
