Lagaan (2001)
Dir: Ashutosh Gowariker
225min
It is a film that Louis Proyect said “should not be missed by anybody who likes to see the underdog get the better of his oppressor, especially when the oppressor is a preening and sadistic British colonial officer.”
Sounds like Marxist porn? It is. This film is a curious admixture of crude propaganda movie - stuffed with racist stereotypes and appealing to base, quasi-fascist notions of unity through war against a common enemy - and an excellent adventure story/moral tale.
“Lagaan” features stereotyped parasitic colonial villains and valiant but oppressed peasants. At one level the film is an allegory of the capitalist conversion and subversion of dissent and rebellion - in this case symbolised by the villagers taking up cricket (capitalism) to beat the capitalists/oppressors at their own game.
The fact that colonial values have won out does not fit well into this story. Cricket is the national sport of Indian and Pakistan. The Indian Army’s elites are trained at Sandhurst. The poignancy of a token moral victory by the peasants in this film in the wider context of cultural annihilation is perhaps the main emotional force in the film. The battle won amongst the annihilation of a lost war. The charge of the light brigade. Defiance in death.
A telling point in the film is where the villagers, confronted by a cricket game, watch bemusedly. The game is judged to look “silly and stupid”. Of course that silly and stupid game is now the national sport of both Indian and Pakistan. I am sure the irony is not lost on the film makers.
But then again this film is saturated with irony.
In one scene in the film, the protagonist (Bhutan) persuades the rest of the team to accept an untouchable into their ranks (In real life this would have to be done at gunpoint…but we have suspended out incredulity for now). The team is not happy. How can they allow somebody from the lower caste on their team? Bhutan delivers a speech about the need to unite all Indians against their enemy and to eradicate the caste system.
One must wonder what to make of this outburst. The caste system in India is being challenged - but not because of some internal moral authority or enlightenment. Rather , it is globalisation and the forces of capitalist modernity that are destroying yet another “traditional” power system - this time the caste system.
Perhaps Bhutan’s speech can be seen in the light of the Indo-Pakistan nuclear stand off as a call to arms for all Indians (regardless of ethnicity) against the common enemy - Pakistan?
The cricket team is a perfectly politically correct assembly: it is composed of a member of the lower caste, a token Sikh, Muslims and Hindus who, of course, get along amicably.
The film does not present the scenario of the team being confronted with the news that say local Muslims had just burned to death 50 Hindus or Hindu mobs had just mass murdered Muslims, also by fire. I imagine a speech denouncing the British would be in order and a sub plot blaming the local British commander for instigating the violence. One wonders if the amicability is only maintained with the fascist notion of in-group solidarity at the expense of a common enemy - in this instance the minority British colonialists?
“Lagaan” is, in the tradition of Bollywood, a long film. Over four hours - split into two parts. One has to wonder, why does it take fours hours to tell a fantasy story of some poor villagers beating local squaddies at their own game?
This is, after all, a Bollywood film. Consequently there is a love triangle, plenty of dancing and glittering costumes. It also has to be long. People want decent length movies in India. Quantity and quality are not neccisarily distinguished.
As the film is ultimately about the superiority of the Indians, the enemy’s women are also conquered. An English woman sympathetic to the cause - none other that the chief baddies sister - teaches the Indians the fine points of cricket and falls in love with the virile Bhutan.
[ In a scene cut from the movie, we learn the brutish British cricket captain keeps Bhutan's sister as a bed wench. She symbolises the Indian comprador class. ]
This revisists the old cliche of salvation for the natives at the hand of white women. Perhaps this is another nod towards India’s obsession with fair skin. After all, when was the last time you saw a dark skinned Bollywood actress? A light skinned Sudra probably has better prospects in life than a dark skinned Brahmin. Such is the power of complexion in India. But that is another discussion. Back to the film…
At one point in the film we are even treated to - get this - a rain dance! If a non-Indian were to have included this primitive behaviour in a film they would be accused of being racist or at least anti-Indian. Louis glowing descibed the scene as having “a delirious quality ” where the droight stricken villagers “serenade and dance to the darkening clouds that they hope will finally bring much needed rain.” For some reason this reminds me of the flashback scene in Dancing At Lughnasa where the old priest reveals to his shocked relatives that he has “gone native”.
All in all the film is an enjoyable romp for the sort of people who enjoy world music, dance awkwardly at bongo troupes in the foyer of London’s Barbican and think that colonialism was ultimately a bad thing or that Marx was…well…right.
This film with its simple plot and crude (and some might say racist) stereotypes could have been squeezed into a 7 minute short. I think it would have done better as a massive propaganda poster or perhaps a sculpture. As it is - a loose copy of Escape to Victory but with neither the humour nor the dramatic tensions of the original - it is probably worth seeing. Be warned, if you believe the stereotypes, then your name is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
2/10
[ I, Jonathan Davis, have NOT seen the film. This "review" is based on Louis' earlier post and is mostly tongue in cheek. The film has received high praise across the world and despite the dodgy political "messages", the acting, dancing and story are by nearly all accounts superb. ]
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