Calcutta

I had the opportunity to watch about 3/4 of Louis Malle's documentary Calcutta during a history class that dealt with historical and modern slums. The movie is a hard film to watch at times due to the display of human suffering throughout the movie. As mentioned in the plot outline, there is little commentary or written dialogue in the film and you are given the raw picture, with some sound, of one of the largest and poorest slums in the world. The imagery is hard to take at times. I saw the film roughly three years ago and there are still two scenes which I vividly remember. One is a dramatic funeral scene where members of a woman's family cremate her in the middle of a street. The other was of a small child, with no clothes or shoes, standing next to filthy streams of water that ran through the slums.

Despite being produced almost 40 years ago, Calcutta deals with urban planning issues that are still prevalent today. There are still places like Lagos, the City of the Dead, and Karachi where slums and ghettos exist and exact a terrible toll on those who live there. This is an excellent movie for anyone who is concerned with urban planning and the global impact of slums, but not for the light-hearted.

Acclaimed French director Louis Malle gives us in this documentary a very plainspoken, rather comprehensive look at Calcutta, India, in the late 1960s. We see the rich tapestry of life in the city, and all that it entails: the sick and impoverished, music and culture, labor and industry, social and political division and unrest, the divide between rich and poor, the lasting influence of British colonialism, and much more. We're given glimpses of the struggles of an exploding population, illustration of a bridge of sorts between the agricultural and urban, and the role of religion in daily life. And all this, it should be said, transpires before us with minimal input from Malle himself. In some sequences the filmmaker provides narration after a fashion, offering some explanation of the sights to greet us, or translates brief interviews with select individuals; elsewhere, his words walk a line between history lesson and commentary. For the most part, however, the preponderance of these 100 minutes are presented as unfiltered footage of the people, places, and daily life of a growing city.

Such a low-key, almost passive ethos is a far cry from the unflinching and intense or off-beat and oblique drama the man has given us in his features throughout his career, yet the result is no less fascinating. Especially coming from an imperialist culture (the United States, or really, anywhere in "the west") that constantly others and looks down upon regions outside our provincial purview, it's striking how wonderfully diverse Calcutta is. While there are common connective threads throughout much of the city as Malle's picture observes, all the same there's also substantial variety in language and ethnicity, religious beliefs and practices, economic classes and livelihoods, culture and recreation, and social and political views. Of course, within that portrait, we're also faced with the staggering poverty and appalling living conditions of wide swaths of the population, accentuated in profound contrast with imagery of a walled-off golf course within the city where the wealthy shuts out everything around them. 'Calcutta' is nothing if not eye-opening, in many different ways.

And on that note, the movie's strength is also its weakness. Malle casts a wide lens across the city, showing us as much of Calcutta for better and for worse as I suppose he reasonably could. That aim and approach is admirable, giving a no-frills exhibition of a specific place at a specific time. On the other hand, for lack of a unifying vision, thesis, or particular driving force behind the documentary, one might reasonably argue that certain difficulties raise their head. That lack of focus is more noticeable at some times more than others, and at times inculcates that the endeavor is altogether exploitative, or perhaps falls into the same trap of othering and condescension as much of "western" culture can readily be faulted with in the first place. This is especially unfortunate since there are scattered moments throughout the runtime when Malle does gloss over notions that could have easily been seized upon to center the production. Primarily, he briefly commentates at one point on the relationship between the pillaging of India of its resources by the British during colonial rule, a theft which led to the further growth of the United Kingdom as a world power. It is accurately suggested, but not outright remarked, that this exact lack of resources has contributed significantly to the state of Calcutta as it is seen here. Clearly Malle must have felt that it was beyond his scope as a documentarian to plainly draw such connections, or build a film around them. However, declining to do so, or give any more discrete core to the feature, also has its own ramifications. ("The choice to be apolitical is a political choice.")

Mind you, I don't doubt Malle's intent and sincerity, only the precise method and results thereof. Still, even as 'Calcutta' raises questions, they are as much questions about the production as they are questions for what we, as viewers, will do with the information that we now have in our possession. Moreover, with or without those questions, what the documentary represents above all is an opportunity to see a corner of the world for all that it is, and not just the worst side of it. And truly, for all the hardships put on display here - at that, surely not all-inclusive - what we see more than anything else is a city teeming with vibrant life, life that deserves to be seen and heard and appreciated all on its own. Given the nature of the movie it's certainly not something that will appeal to those who don't already favor the style, but whether one is a fan of documentaries at large, Malle especially, or just looking for broaden their horizons - though imperfect, 'Calcutta' is worth checking out if you have the chance.

Reading the IMDb reviews I was surprised that some were so negative about the film and cynical about its agenda. One review chose to attack the USA as part of their consideration of the film yet had the reviewer watched closely they would realise there was some irony in the fact that the soybean oil cans were labelled in 17 languages to reinforce that they had been donated by Americans. The film had lots of implicit criticism.

The main criticisms of the film were reserved for British colonialism and the heritage it bequeathed, which was to be found alive and well in the economic elite of Calcutta. Most of the film showed ordinary people in varying states of poverty, working, cleaning and celebrating and/or worshipping. It offered special mention at times for the excluded, e.g. the lepers, the migrants from Bihari and Madras to name some. What this film does is include as many of the people who comprised the population of Calcutta in 1968 and it's not always a pretty sight. But the city is complex.

Some favourite moments: One, the jute situation. Under British rule part of the then city grew the plants from which jute is made and the other part contained the factories for its processing. Post-colonialism and the eastern part of the city, containing the farmed jute plants, became Bangladesh, or East Bengal as it's referred to in the film. The factories remained in India. So Calcutta's municipality divided the land formerly used for rice giving half of it to grow jute plants. The consequence for the population was not enough rice to feed the population! A great illustration of the ludicrousness created by partition and the effects it has on the poor.

Two, manual labour. It was plentiful in Calcutta at rock bottom costs and so the unions were keen to discourage technological advance as it would threaten employment. Meanwhile the people are working very hard for pittances. How would one resolve this? Well that's a hypothetical question as technology has advanced nonetheless.

Three, the clay potter in one of Calcutta's slums. A moment of genuine and serene beauty; watching the man artfully spin his potter's wheel and then so deftly remove parts of the clay he's formed into perfect cups. The cups are then stored on the roof of the hut to dry out thereby providing a decorative temporary roof. Temporality was one of the spiritual themes of the film.

Finally, another complaint in one of the reviews was that the film intruded on subjects' privacy. There were moments when a person spotted being filmed and tried to cover themselves. So there's some legitimacy to this criticism. BUT I wonder if the reviewer picked up this minor detail - and it was minor as most subjects were curious about the camera - because they did not want to see certain people in certain states. The camera in the film lingers on its subjects but it spent time looking with attention. Whether the attention was on faces and hands ravaged by leprosy, a man washing himself in public view, or guests at a bourgeois wedding eating. The camera attended to its subject.

If you have the opportunity to see the film then take it, as it's not easy to get hold of. I have it as part of the Eclipse volume 2box set of Malle's documentaries. The set includes Malle's lengthy documentary called Phantom India. The footage he used in Calcutta was to form part of Phantom India but when he saw what he filmed he realised it was so compelling that it deserved to be a film in its own right.

This is one sick & dark Documentary! Seems like they were bent upon finding & filming all the Hell that lurks in any other place, here Calcutta! Now,that place has undergone a radical transformation, first-has got its original & proper non-Englished name- " Kolkata " ..& has now,got all its positivity & charms of a sparkling Big city-all for the Better! It was Feb'1968,when the film was shot & its now 2008, more than 40 years has elapsed & generations have changed & so has the city! To all apparent views, the documentary throughout,is very vague & highlights all the abject & absolute poverty in parts of the city without any justifiable reasons for the horrid truth & chaotic state of existence of the time.It is but a failure in finding to analyze the intricacies of the soul & mind of the great city striving to survive with its millions & exponentially growing populace for more than 300 yrs!Inspite of its chaotic portrayal & shock value, the film is incomplete,with it's skewed point of view like many other superfluous mindset & skin deep research of the white skinned western world, would so much want to believe! No pity for the others & to each Best of its own-the Great Grand Kolkata lives & breathes in full life in its very own wonderful World today!!!There are many a things that does NOT meets the eye & to find that hidden beauty there,give yourself a visit to "Kolkata".

CALCUTTA is a very unusual film in that there is no narration for about the first third of the film and even when it is given, it's only used very sparingly. It seems that director Malle chose to allow the many images of an impoverished city to speak for themselves. In fact, I also appreciated how the film did not push a clear agenda. Sure, it was there (as in any film), but often the film just seemed to be a walking tour of the city--ranging from the interesting to the unusual to the awful and disgusting. Malle did not flinch away from lepers, cremations and people living in abject squalor and considering the source material, avoiding these not so lovely images of the city would have been irresponsible and disingenuous. Additionally, I liked how the lack of narration through the film actually encourages the viewer to make their own interpretation of the film. As a result, I am sure that each viewer has a rather unique take on what the film was about as well as what they think of the future of India. An excellent film that is practically yelling out for a follow-up almost forty years later to show us how life in this crowded city has or has not changed.