India: Earth

My reaction Earth is lukewarm. The film felt contrived and superficial.  There was little character development; I just couldn’t invest in any of the characters except Lenny, the crippled child, mostly because I felt sorry for her. The script (and therefore the characters) wasn’t witty, insightful, or interesting. The use of symbols was heavy-handed. Though Mehta shows the audience what occurred on Indian Independence Day, we don’t know what was felt or seen.  Mehta offers a few cliché devices: burning buildings and angry mobs. But overall, I think it’s a fluff film that completely glosses over a devastating day in India’s history. In fact, I think it’s completely candy-assed, similar to the Disney-esque Hotel Rwanda with both films guilty of pre-digesting and sugar coating weighty subject matter. But all film is artifice, so we’ll just leave it at that.

Obviously I agree with the negative reviews.

Earth reveals a highly stratified Indian society: Britons, Indian Briton-wannabes, and the working class. The film also features  Muslim, Hindi, and Sikh populations. The film’s timeline is a month or a few weeks prior to Independence Day. Citizens are paranoid. Rumors are flying; there is much uncertainty. As Independence Day approaches, tensions rise, tempers flare, even  among heretofore peaceful friends—a group comprised of three different faiths.  Fear and potential loss ratchets up the stress levels amid the group.

The forthcoming change underway amounts to the cleaving off of a piece of India, then renaming it Pakistan. Muslims will migrate to Pakistan. Hindis will migrate to India. Sikh will—I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention. But it goes without saying that changes are coming, and no one will like them. And indeed, Indian Independence Day unfurled  a massacre: Muslims killing Hindis and Sikh, Hindis and Sikh killing Muslims.

It was difficult to observe the characters’ reactions because they were not well-developed. Shanta seemed confused and like so many others—unsure about what to expect.  We know that she is “neutral” because she is Parsi. Unfortunately, Mehta  misses an opportunity to present any real perspective because Shanta’s story line was primarily romantic. We are deprived of a main character’s entire experience.

Hassan, a Muslim,  reacted by remaining tolerant and loyal to his friends. He loved Shanta despite the fact that her religion is different from his. He proposed to her. Later, he hid the Sikh zookeeper and his family from angry Muslim mobs. 

Ice Candyman, a Muslim, became angry, embittered,  and vengeful.  But Mehta misses another opportunity to advance any real perspective: is his vengeance personal or religious? We don’t know.

Overall, I “liked” the film, but Mehta doesn’t offer much more perspective on Indian Independence Day than a Wiki page.

I loved the music and clothing.