Kicking off True/False with Cowboys in India
Posted on 26 February, 2010 | No Comments
by Gwen Ragno
Any journalist or documentarian can tell you that sometimes, the hard-hitting investigative story that you are looking for just doesn’t pan out. Simon Chambers spent a year in rural India trying to make a documentary about the evils of a British mining company, Vendanta, and its effects on the local communities. He made his film, alright, but as it turned out, it wasn’t really about mining and corporate responsibility at all.
The film started out pretty much like any other investigative doc, with Simon embarking on his journey while his voice-over narration explains the issue and what he is hoping to find out. He hires a guide and a driver, Satya and Doya, to drive him around Orissa, the poorest state in India and the location of the most recent Vendanta plant, and began talking to locals about how things had changed. It doesn’t take long, though, to see that he wasn’t having an easy time of it. He even said in the narration that at one point, he realized that he really had no idea what was going on.
Quite frankly Satya and Doya almost immediately steal the show. Satya insists on telling everyone they meet that Simon is a BBC reporter, because that title is more respectable for both of them than “independent filmmaker”, and at one point he even insists that Simon do a stand-up (the classic “I am standing in front of [insert significant location or structure]…”) while Satya plays cameraman. In this hilarious little outtake, our gaze ends up meandering along a nearby mountain ridge, while we hear Simon in the background saying something like “Well…no…you’ve got to point it at me, see….over here.” In another part, Simon tries doing the classic car-driving-by cutaway shot, but can’t get the driver Doya to understand that he’s not supposed to stop and pick him up every time.
It’s not all for giggles, though. The film does a lot to explore the idea that truth is subjective, and that it can very easily change or be manipulated. The Vendanta representative that finally granted Simon an interview went on and on about how the company had built schools and hospitals for the surrounding communities, but then he sent “bodyguards” to keep an eye on him and apparently to make threatening phone calls to Satya and Doya. Some villagers said the schools were great, and said Vendanta provided jobs and helped them feed their families. Others set up roadblocks to hinder the company’s trucks, saying they hated Vendanta and either denied the existence of the facilities or pointed out that a hospital is useless without doctors (which Vendanta and the government had neglected to provide). One tribesman from a settlement near the plant spoke out passionately against Vendanta, but then, as Simon informed us in the voiceover, showed up on YouTube a few months later singing its praises. It makes you wonder how truthful any documentary can really be, since the story is necessarily filtered through the experiences and opinions of the people telling it.
Even though the film wasn’t really about cowboys or evil mining companies, Satya and Doya were a delight to roam the countryside with, and with all the deeper questions about truth and responsibility, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the True/False weekend.
Cowboys in India is also playing:
Saturday, Feb. 27 / 8:00PM / Forrest Theater
Sunday, Feb. 28 / 10:30AM / Big Ragtag
Have you seen it? What did you think?
We’ll be at the festival all weekend, so keep checking back for more reviews!
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