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.

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".

French director Louis Malle's feature length documentary "Calcutta" would turn out to be a harrowing experience for anyone who is interested in serious cinema.It is not the depiction of abject poverty which is shocking but the manner in which this film was shot is quite revolting.Etienne Becker's camera did not show least bit of concern for his subjects as their privacy was violated in many ways.It felt as if some intruders were hell bent on snatching moments of innocence from common people.This disputatious position would surely play a leading role in polarizing viewers.It can be surmised that even hardcore documentary cinema admirers would doubt this film's neutrality as it appears much too prejudiced.Louis Malle has not been able to strike a fine balance between what he personally experienced in Calcutta and what Calcutta really had to offer.This is one of the reasons why he chose to highlight what he experienced more than what was being offered.As this is a documentary with minimal commentary,viewers would be forced to draw their own conclusions.City of Calcutta is synonymous with its strong political stance.This aspect of Calcutta has been depicted by Louis Malle in a very light manner.This film's few moments of relief were filmed only when Louis Malle chose to become a sociologist.Those are the moments which would please audiences not accustomed to the depiction of anything controversial.

You think you've got troubles? Spend a few hours trolling the crowded filth-infested lanes of Calcutta with Louis Malle's roving camera and take in the nightmarish reality that results from millions of people living in the filthiest of circumstances. Narration in this film is minimal, and images tell the story--whether pictures of the sick and dying stuffing their mouths in a death house or children rooting around in the muddy garbage with hogs, this powerful immersion in a city jammed with rootless humans struggling for survival is powerful and unrelenting.

While the arc of a story does not exist, the tale of this city is shown in vivid clarity and Calcutta is not easily forgotten; it's amazing that the film was made forty years ago: could living conditions be any worse today? (One day later--out of curiosity I looked up present day Calcutta on Wikipedia--and was not surprised to find an entirely different picture of that immense metropolis on view--an excellent way to balance the "truth"of what appears to be an objective documentary).

So my Question is that do you have slums only in countries like India & not in USA. Open your eyes , for the poor in your country are more worse than ours And also you should be more ashamed of the poverty that exists in your country before passing sanctimonious comments on our wretchedness. The reason, your country is one richest countries in the world & whereas our country of for any country under colonial rule has suffered more than 200 years of complete exploitation in the hands of British/colonial powers. & just after 60 years of independence the improvement we have made is just short of stunning. The chances of an Indian living below the poverty line or living on the breadline been successful is much higher than if the same person lived in US.