Last night we went to a free screening of a film titled "Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain" written and directed by Ravi Kumar, whom I expect to become quite a well known name in the next decade or two because this movie demonstrates a natural gift for the art of visual storytelling. I did not expect to like this movie. We went because we were invited by potential investors for my husband's project (Cerebus). It was in San Francisco. I did not know the subject matter of the film until I looked up the title as we drove south on Highway 101. (It was a gorgeous drive through rolling green hills dressed in mist and dusk. I love Napa Valley!) I have to say I was disappointed when I discovered that "A Prayer for Rain" was related to the 1984 poison gas disaster in Bhopal that was caused by Union Carbide, a chemical factory that was built in the middle of nowhere, but after ten years, a community had grown around it. My expectation was a heavy-handed, melodramatic Bollywood type of amateurish first attempt, more on the documentary side, and certainly boring. Of course I felt a little guilty for being so disinterested in the story beneath the tragic headline.
I was completely surprised! Ravi Kumar wrote and directed a beautiful movie! Yes, the subject matter was catastrophic and real people by the thousands were killed and tormented by the deceivers who created and managed the plant, nonetheless it was an engaging, good-humored, balanced revelation told in a way that is universal. It is a movie I will recommend to others because it is a good movie. From the editing, soundtrack, direction, casting and performances, it is a world class film. I was more than a little impressed. This film moved, enlightened, and entertained me all at the same time, and that, my friends, is exactly the way it should be when telling a true tale of such importance.
I was completely surprised! Ravi Kumar wrote and directed a beautiful movie! Yes, the subject matter was catastrophic and real people by the thousands were killed and tormented by the deceivers who created and managed the plant, nonetheless it was an engaging, good-humored, balanced revelation told in a way that is universal. It is a movie I will recommend to others because it is a good movie. From the editing, soundtrack, direction, casting and performances, it is a world class film. I was more than a little impressed. This film moved, enlightened, and entertained me all at the same time, and that, my friends, is exactly the way it should be when telling a true tale of such importance.