GHANI

Bangladesh, 2007, 109 minutes, Colour.
Raisul Islam Asad, Dolly Jahur, Pavez Murad, Rani Sharkar, Najneen Chumkee.
Directed by Kazi Morshed.

Ghani is an interesting social drama from Bangladesh. It won the main prize at the Interfaith Signis Jury in Dakar 2008.

Filmed in the countryside of Bangladesh, in the language of the area, the film focuses on families in a village. They eke out a livelihood by extracting oil from mustard seeds. They use oxen to turn the cycle (the ghani of the title). When the oxen are stolen, the people find it impossible to extract the oil unless people do the turning of the wheel.

The film also focuses on a young man who has gone to Dakar to try to send back money to the family. He falls in love with a young woman, marries her despite the family suspicions. When he is killed, the parents force the woman to turn the wheel.

The film has a great deal of social comment about the realities of life in Bangladesh as well as a criticism of the patriarchal attitudes, the domination of the parents – and the humiliation of women.

The film is well acted - and well worth seeing as an introduction to rural life in the country.

1.The Bangladeshi film industry? Local stories? The countryside? The disappearing tribes? Growing commerce and industrialisation?

2.The location photography, the isolated homes, the village? The countryside, the rivers? Authentic atmosphere? Local musical score?

3.The title, the hand mill, its place in the livelihood of the family? The threats, the loss of the bull? Nobody to turn the wheel? The second meeting of the Cycle of Life, a vicious cycle and people trapped in it?

4.The presentation of the family? The home, the livelihood with the mustard oil? The parents? The other parents? The grandmother? The old patriarch? The woman who lived with the household? The son in Dakar? The extended family and their life?

5.The old man, his growing senility? His visions and prayers? The Islamic background, the faith in God, the quotations from Allah? His love for his son? His inability to face the reality of the son’s death? His grief?

6.The focus on Bazlu? An agreeable young man? Work, fairly carefree? His attraction towards Moina? His relationship with his parents? His father and his criticisms? His mother and her severity? His work, the mustard oil? His courting of Moina? The family not having enough money? The father finding the money? The celebration of the wedding? His love for Moina? Her playing the joke on him with the makeup and everybody laughing? The bond between them? The importance of the wheel, his work in the fields? The mustard seeds? The death of his cousin? The ailments of his father? The bull, its being stolen? His being blamed? His search, his decision to steal the bull? His being brought in by the villagers? The accusations, his parents’ shame, Moina and her puzzle? His being humiliated? His discovery of what had happened to Moina? The confrontation with his parents? His injuries and his finally turning the wheel himself, caught in the cycle?

7.Moina, her background, family, the background of the song about Moina? Courting, marriage, her happiness? Her husband and the family, their demands, forcing her to turn the wheel, the humiliation of her being made to do the work of a bull? Her bruises, Bazlu’s discovery, his shaming his parents?

8.The parents, the hard work, the background to their marriage and courting, love, quarrels? Trying to survive, the need for money, the need for food? The bull being stolen? The demands of the entrepreneur, the need for the mustard oil, the debts? The decision to force Moina to turn the hand mill? Bazlu and the theft, his father’s attack on him? The attack by Bazlu and his turning the wheel?

9.The old woman as part of the family, her support of Bazlu, the parents turning on her?

10.The people in the village, the accusations? The old grandmother and her chat, passing by? The celebration in the village? Village life?

11.The boss, wealth, severity, loans, his making demands? The growing industrialisation and mechanisation of the trade?

12.A portrait of a tribal area of Bangladesh, the traditions of the past? Religious traditions, family? The role of men and women? Change?