[ad_1]
Ashvin Kumar's The absence of a father in Kashmir paying homage to "half-orphans and widows" begins with an unexpected note of humor. The film begins in London, where Noor (Zara Webb), aged 16, meets her boyfriend, who wears a burqa, at a religious meeting. When Noor and his family go on holiday in Kashmir, a sign over a barge says "Love me Tinder"
On the same boat, Noor's mother, Zainab (Natasha Mago), insists that her husband, Wahid (Sushil) Dahiya), clicks on an image in a Kashmir outfit. Wahid defies in his refusal: the scene then cuts them a local costume: Radiant Zainab, Wahid sulk.
While Noor comes into the valley with his mother's parents-in-law, Abdul (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and Halima (Soni Razdan), history presents Kashmir as we know it. We first see the writing (literal) on the wall: "Indian dogs go back", "Stop the genocide in Kashmir", "Go to India, go". But the film does not even need visual, just a few parasitic words ("disappearance", "militant", "resumed"), referenced in the dialogues, suffice. Noor's father, Basheer – Zainab's first husband – disappeared, like many men in the state, 14 years ago. Wahid, his current companion, marks a new beginning: he is an Indian government official.
The most important conflicts, though soon narrowed, as Kumar sees this world through the eyes of two teenagers: Noor and Majid (Shivam Raina), son of the friend Basheer's childhood, who, unlike her, spent all her life in the valley. These fundamentally distinct views continue to collide with each other, framing conflicts and violence in more recent contexts. Noor, for example, wants to click on a photo with a terrorist. "Activist", corrects Majid, "someone who is fighting for independence."
This scene is more disconcerting when one sees the porous separation between a young civilian and an activist. This difference is also evident in the functioning of memory: Majid, accustomed to violence, wants to forget – he is not interested in where his father is; Noor, a stranger to this injustice, wants to remind, exercising in many ways, his father Dad.
Making Noor the centerpiece of the film – a person without a history or background (almost perfect incarnation of a "neutral" observer) – is a smart decision because it releases the movie from the movie. a blinding narrative and right-sided and gives the public the power to choose. Challenging issues like Kashmir – focused on human rights, violence and nationalism – often arouse strong feelings. A history open to dialogue, such as Without Fathers in Kashmir is both cerebral and essential.
By avoiding the slogan "We against them", the film shows the disagreements between the inhabitants. , as well. In an early scene, Abdul meets Arshid (Kumar) – a close friend of Basheer, now a convinced Islamist hiding at home – saying, "We were well before your petro-dollars," before adding: " What's going on? that freedom you're talking about – and what would you do with it? "Arshid and Basheer were" salvaged "by the army, the bads of the army were electrocuted during his interrogation, thus rendering him powerless.These details are essential in a tragedy like this because they provide new information and a subtle prudence against thoughtless judgments
But in spite of these merits, No Fathers in Kashmir has a tendency to be lost Many secondary intrigues are disputed with attention: besides research from his father by Noor, the film also deals with the delicate relationship between a wife and her in-laws who, after years of waiting, have finally remarried, the interactions between the army and the local population , threatening to explode or have disastrous consequences in the long run, the troubling mentalities of Islamic fundamentalists, who continue to fuel the fire, and finally, the history of amo ur between two teenagers, last sign of hope in a country devastated for a long time
The film therefore lacks a formidable pivot. There are sequences that exceed their reception, stagnating history, diluting curiosity. But above all, a significant portion of subplots and themes explored in other films taking place in the Valley feels familiar – especially the recently Hamid which, like No father in Kashmir sees the conflict through the eyes of a young Kashmir. None of this makes this drama of poor quality, while at the same time preventing it from being a pioneering and always fascinating piece.
The actors' game is hardly disappointing. This is the first feature film by Webb and Raina. They do not seem inadequate or too young for roles that are both difficult and complex. Similarly, Mago, in his second film only, complements veterans Razdan and Kharbhanda, summing up his grief and grievance with an impressive economy. There is another newcomer here – the filmmaker Kumar turned actor – who plays his role as a fundamentalist Muslim blinded by faith, with a forced effort: a character attracting attention to an actor. , finds a crucial facet on conflict-ridden land – that such a place, where death and disappearance are commonplace, disrupts any sense of life: a whole generation of teenagers, with half-childhoods, who have to understand when they became adults.
Source link
