(Just to clarify, I didn’t watch this movie online. My family rented it but they turned it back in before I thought about getting a picture with it, so a picture of the movie on the computer will have to do) Last weekend I watched “City of Joy” for the first time. The movie, made in 1992 and based on a true story, is primarily in English, but also has a good bit of Hindi, and it can be considered an ethnographic film because it shows a lot of Indian culture, specifically in the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata). The movie focuses on one particular slum called the “city of joy.” In the beginning of the movie, the Pal family, who lives in a small rural village, is unable to pay off a loan due to economic hardships caused by a famine. They are forced to move into the city of Calcutta, in hopes of finding a more successful life. The father of the family eventually finds a job as a local rickshaw “runner” hired by a powerful man who owns and runs the city of joy. At the same time that the Pal’s story is taking place, an American doctor, Dr. Max Lowe, comes to Calcutta escaping his life as a medical doctor in the states, because he’s been fed up with his job. He eventually crosses paths with the Pal family, as well as a British lady, Joan Bethel, who runs a very sketchy makeshift clinic in the slum. At first Dr. Lowe wants no part in the clinic, providing medical care to the locals in the slum, because of the slum’s overwhelming needs and his desire to remain detached from it all. Eventually his heart changes, as he grows attached to the people in the slum, especially to the Pal family, and he decides to volunteer at the clinic. However, just as he and Ms. Bethel get to be on the same page, the “Godfather” of the slum, the powerful man who Mr. Pal works for, passes away, and his son, who is much less compassionate for the people in the slum and who wants the doctors to go back to their home countries, takes his place. The son takes charge and orders that the clinic be shut down. Dr. Lowe, Ms. Bethel, and others who live in the slum stand up to the son, and struggle through numerous hardships to fight for a decent standard of living for the people of the city of joy.
I found this movie especially interesting because I’ve actually been to Kolkata, and some of the places I rode by looked very similar to scenes of the slum life shown in this movie. Honestly it disturbs me to actually realize that there are people who live in these conditions literally every day of their lives. Their way of life, the system that is in place in the slums as each family fights to just survive, is so different from my own life, that I don’t even know where to start comparing the two. One of the most interesting things that I learned from the movie is that certain slums are “governed” by families who have power and authority over the locals in the slum. The movie didn’t really explain how these certain people come to power over the others in the slums. I would guess that it’s probably based on wealth, but I’m not sure. I’m also not sure how much of a role the local Indian government plays. Relating these things to anthropological concepts, I understand that, although I can learn some things about a culture from short-term exposures to it, such as watching a movie or even travelling through a certain city, I cannot gain a holistic understanding of that culture without prolonged exposure, and a lot of time being invested in observing and immersing myself in that culture. I wish that I understood more about slum life in Kolkata or other places around the world, but in order to do that I will have to invest more time in gaining an understanding that truly is holistic.
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