Sarvnik Kaur’s breathtaking documentary about Indigenous fishermen in Mumbai, India, dispels the myth that cinematic beauty has to do with the power of the camera or the glossiness of the image. Shot by Ashok Meena, the film finds beauty, simply, in perspective.
Kaur creates a vital portrait of the intersection between the spiritual and industrial in the world’s most religious nation, grounded in the poignant interpersonal drama between friends, families and communities. In moving fashion, she captures how the effects of climate change ripple far beyond the shore, into the homes of those who depend on the sea not for their living, but for their cultural identities.
The movie enables viewers to witness firsthand how indigenous people are unable to keep their cultures. It also looks at how society has corrupted men and has forever changed ancestral traditions.
It’s moving in its minuteness, in the difficulty of daily living for two men trying to survive an intensive, low-income job. Still, it returns to the issue of friendship and how, as people age, they begin to grow apart.
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RogerEbert.comGlenn Kenny
RogerEbert.comGlenn Kenny
Against the Tide, a documentary directed by Sarvnik Kaur, depicts environmental disaster with an intimate lens.