“TRUTH and Residence” was the title of a significant forum at India's International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which held late last year and boycotted Israeli movies in a show of solidarity for the Palestinians. In another show of solidarity, director Ken Loach later refused to allow the screening of his movie at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, unless Israel withdrew its films. The Indian Minister of Culture said that it was high time the world had a transcontinental movement for the liberation of Palestine. He hoped that one day the Palestinians would succeed, rather like the victory in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Ironically, the IFFK, a yearly event, has played an important role in showcasing what is often referred to as the cinema of resistance. This tradition role continued in the latest edition of the festival. One of these movies portrayed the 1948 War, featuring the daily lives of the Palestinians who live as a minority in their own homeland. It provided the springboard for an open discussion between Saeed Mirza, the pioneer of the new wave in India, a British academic and a leading member of the international campaign for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Road to Confluence is an Indian movie directed by Amir Rai that features a devout Muslim, Hashmat Ullah, who wants to carry the ashes of the leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Muslim youths protest the arrest and unjust treatment of innocent Muslims by the police, after a bomb blast in the town. Hashmat Ullah is caught in dilemma. Should he support the protest and leave his work, or should he go against the wishes of his community? What the Sufi Said, directed by Priyanadanan, features the idyllic location of Malabar, at the end of the 19th century under British rule. The film explores a society that opened its arms to change. Adapted from a novel by K.P. Ramanunni, the story explores the myths of the land, the history of its people, the love and passion of the protagonist and the musical spirituality of tolerance. The plot revolves around the love and marriage of Karthi, the Hindu heiress of wealthy Nair Tharavaadu, to Maamootty, an itinerant Muslim trader who travels in coconuts and spices. The cosmopolitan, tolerant people of Kerala allowed both Islam and Christianity to flourish peacefully in this idyllic part of the world. The film boldly analyses the socio-personal space in the moments of the resultant strife that is inevitably born of the pain of change. Through a brilliant soliloquy by Avaru Musaliyar, the local muezzin, the film exposes the plain and peaceful truth that, just a few generations back, warring religions of the day shared a common faith. The Night Sky or Ramanam, directed by M.P. Sukumaran Nair, emerges from the fact that senior sheikhs have enlightened the Muslim world. Eramullan, the muezzin at the mosque owned by the Thangal family, wakes up and as usual fills the water tank with water. He walks to the tomb of the late Thangal. He strikes a match to light an incense stick and, in that instant streak of light, he sees a lying on the tomb. He rushes to the Aakel family home to tell the Thangal about the incident. They find out that the woman is pregnant and has been kicked out of her Hindu community. Thangal gives the woman, Neeli, shelter in the home of his Hindu employee, Bapukanaran. Thangal's wife Atta Beevi is also pregnant. Atta Beevi gives birth to a baby girl, Pookunji. Almost at the same time, Neeli gives birth to a son. But Neeli dies in childbirth. Since there is no Hindu woman to breastfeed the child, Thangal adopts him and converts him to Islam. The boy is named Kunjali. But sensing his wife's hospitality to the child, Thangal leaves Kunjali in the care of Pathu, a servant girl with the Arakal family. All of those shining stars let the world know that people should respect Muslims and their rights. Kerala boasts of one of the most cine-literate and discerning audiences in the world. Generally speaking, cinema and politics are two abiding passions of the people of Kerala. Bizarre experiments in the medium, with few takers elsewhere, have found vociferous votaries here.
