Origin

The movie deserves much credit for tackling a difficult and complex subject -- the role of race in relation to caste in subjugation and oppression.

The movie examines race in America and caste in India as well as the Holocaust in Germany. However, it fails to mention colonialism, which oppressed one half of the planet no less in the early years after World War 2. This is a serious omission.

Even during the discussion of caste in India, the colonial oppression of India by the British that lasted till 1947 is not addressed. And it might be added, the British took full advantage of the Caste system to consolidate their rule of the country.

I just happened upon this movie as I usually do with movies. I was so delightfully surprised. What an important issue to cast light upon. Casting was perfect. This is definitely an intelligent watch. The producer/directors did not need to get flashy to get their point across, instead, they did it with great writing/screenplay and some gut wrenching moments. I love the intelligent conversations that were had by the characters as well as the flashbacks of the characters who were extremely affected by the caste system. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to learn something and also watch a good movie.

Touching story but not really moved by the movie itself. Could be hard to watch for some. At the end of the day it was decent, I just think it was one of those movies that's more important than it's actually good. But because it's an important story people are gonna butter the movie up. Could've been a better as a documentary if you ask me.

The grainy sharp visual style, evoking an old movie feel despite its modern setting, wasn't to my liking. It's paced really slow and isn't engaging. It works on the assumption that you're already invested and care. It's like using puppy dog eyes. There are scenes that work but too few and too far apart especially in the first half of the movie; so the parts in between felt like a drag. There are few scenes and conversations that are memorable later on that make it worth a watch. But I doubt this is a movie you'd wanna see twice. The movie could benefit from fewer subplots, like the mother's, to maintain better focus. I think I'd have been invested more if it was paced quicker and had less things going on.

The biggest thing I learned about was the Indian dalits, called the untouchables, who're the lowest stratum of the castes in the India. The Jews, and African Americans in America. This isn't in the movie but Several scholars have drawn parallels between Dalits and the Burakumin of Japan, the Baekjeong of Korea, the Hukou system of China. I think learning about them was what made the movie interesting enough for me, otherwise if I had already known about them like I knew about Jews in Germany or blacks in America; I would've been even more bored.

I wish it was paced better, it felt much longer than it actually is. For a good chunk of the second half, it felt like a wait for the conclusion. It's a very heavy loaded film and leaves you with things to think about and some learnings. It's a thought-provoking experience but struggles to captivate, taking too long to get into its stride.

This movie is so vital and so important and everyone needs to see it! It is so important to realize how connected all of us are!! How all of our issues and struggles and history are so similar! This movie is beautiful and brilliant and heartbreaking and honest! I hate that the world is this way! I hate that humanity has made the world this way. We could've had a better world. We could've had a loving and kind society and world. Everyone needs to see this movie and needs to read this book! Everything ia connected! Everything! I hope this movie is shown is classrooms and universities and on TV's all around the world!

The acting is all really quite adequate here, but it's not really that important to the fascinating underlying premiss that underpins the theory that race, in itself, might not be the reason for the hierarchical nature of a society that always manages to create sub-classes. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor offers her own engaging perspective on author Isabel Wilkerson who is invited by a publisher to offer a more considered and less reactionary appraisal of race relations following the murder of a young black man who just happened to be in the wrong place (a white neighbourhood) at the wrong time. The audience know full well from the outset what has happened here, so that's not especially important to the plot either - it's her search for a rationale. That search attempts to draw parallels between the plight of the African American citizenry with the victims of Holocaust and of the system of caste that prevails in India. By spending a section of the film in Germany and then in India, we are exposed to a more internationalist view of just why society is made up of the have lots, the haves and the have nots - and at just how little much of that has changed for centuries. The comparison she develops works surprisingly convincingly, if not without it's flaws, and Ellis-Taylor acts well as a sort of sponge for the philosophies that emerge. The one element that it rather studiously avoids is religion. That isolation does rather compromise the authenticity of any conclusion as it doesn't acknowledge that so often the behaviour and structures of cultures are dictated by those atop them in some form of priesthood - whether they be Brahmin or Cardinal. There are a few familial sub-plots to add a bit of drama to the story, but I found them a little unnecessary as the theory elaborates more. It does come from a very specific American perspective - I'd be interested to see how it might turn out if it were to be remade from a Jewish or Indian point of view, but as it is - it's a thoughtful exercise in what makes human strata function and endure.