SYNOPSIS:
Filmed
over three tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA - WAR
& PEACE / JANG AUR AMAN is an epic documentary journey of
peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. Triggered by
macabre scenes of jubilation that greeted nuclear testing in the Indian
sub-continent, WAR & PEACE / JANG AUR AMAN is dramatically framed
by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Fifty years after his death memories
of Gandhi seem like a mirage that never was, created by our thirst for
peace and our very distance from it.
This film is
now facing a ban in India as the Indian Censor Board has ordered 21
cuts before it can be released in Theatres in India. The matter is in
the
courts.
Awards:
- Grand
Prize, 2002 Earth Vision Film Festival (Tokyo)
- Best Film, 2002 Mumbai International Film Festival
(India)
- International Jury Prize, 2002 Mumbai International
Film Festival(India)
- Critic's Prize (FIPRESCI), 2002 Sydney International
Film Festival
- Best Film, 2002 Indian Documentary Producers
Association's (IDPA)
Reviews:
The film
itself is a tour de force, beautifully shot and often darkly funny
and much more riveting than the dry subject matter might suggest.
Duncan
Campbell - The Guardian, UK
A
frightening examination of the continuing confrontation between nuclear
neighbours India and Pakistan. Narrated in quiet yet passionate terms,
(War and
Peace) is of immense interest and importance. - David Stratton - Variety
The
explosions and the resultant jingoistic euphoria are a function of the
frustration and fevered anger of a failed elite, the film argues,
backing its
argument with vivid images of nationalistic and religious fervor that
verge on
the surreal. - Ashfaque Swapan, India-West
Perhaps the
most important film in this year's Berlin Film Festival - Reuters
Links:
This film is
shown as part of a class CASA 74: Bollywood and Beyond: South Asian
Histories and Cultures through Popular Film
