Cinema as an agent of change

It was a big day for India at the 95th Academy Awards, when the country bagged two Oscars. The ceremony this year was low on drama, but high on politics, thanks to a few films, more specifically documentaries, that reflected the state of the world. The themes addressed in these features touched upon a whole spectrum of humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental concerns.

Take for instance, the films nominated for the Best Documentary Feature. India’s Shaunak Sen had crafted a moving portrait of two siblings in New Delhi, who had taken it upon themselves to rescue and rehabilitate birds falling out of the sky owing to the debilitating air pollution levels in India’s capital. Sen’s All that Breathes, however lost out to Daniel Roher’s documentary feature Navalny, which details the 2020 assassination attempt on the Russian opposition leader, former presidential candidate and steadfast Putin critic, Alexei Navalny.

In her acceptance speech, Navalny’s wife Yulia said her husband had been and remains imprisoned for speaking the truth, and that this award is a shout-out of sorts to political prisoners around the world, who have been incarcerated for seeking a just and democratic society. It’s a lesson that India should not take lightly.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine loomed large on the category of documentaries, as another nominee, a feature titled A House Made of Splinters also garnered buzz in the run-up to the awards. Set in war-torn eastern Ukraine, the film focusses on a group of women who run a shelter for children who have been displaced due to violence or alcohol abuse. The theme of substance abuse was also mirrored in the Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which was a glimpse into the life of acclaimed photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her attempts to bring to task Purdue Pharma and its owners - the Sackler family, which had been held accountable for America’s opioid epidemic.

Of course, one of the highlights of the evening was The Elephant Whisperers winning the Oscar for the Best Documentary Short Film. The feature directed by Kartiki Gonsalves is set in the Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu, and revolves around the lives of a tribal couple who are entrusted with taking care of an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu. The film is a sensitive depiction of the manner in which Indian indigenous communities live in harmony with their natural environment, and the pressing need for humans to exercise empathy when it comes to dealing with anything to do with nature. Interestingly, this documentary short has won the prestigious award even as administrators in the State are grappling with concerns of man-animal conflict, on a day to day basis.

Moving the action across the Atlantic, it was a day of reckoning for inclusivity and diversity in American films as well. Michelle Yeoh, who bagged the honour of Best Actress became the first Asian woman in Oscar history to win the coveted leading lady prize. The award was seen as a significant win for immigrants and members of the Asian diaspora in the global north who were for the longest time relegated to supporting parts, and stereotypical depictions.

Long story short, this year’s Oscar has reinforced the hope that cinema can be an agent of positive change in society. And one hopes that more narratives chronicling the truth of the human condition find takers in India, and around the world.