Audience Member
Is it fair to have one's life ripped away from them in the matter of mere seconds? There is an obvious and simple answer to that: ABSOLUTELY NOT. And so, when such atrocities occur, it would make perfect sense for those negatively impacted to fight back in order to gain justice for the callous actions that, in essence, destroyed their lives. The documentary, directed by Van Maximillian Carlson, BHOPALI (2011) highlights what is considered the WORST industrial disaster in history; occurring on December 2nd, 1984, there was a gas leak at a local pesticide factory-Union Carbide-that contaminated the entire city of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. This infected tens of thousands of citizens, killing many, but future generations of families were also born with birth defects due to this catastrophe.
Bhopali also talks about the Chingari Trust, a foundation dedicated to helping the children infected by Union Carbide's mistake; and finally, the film reflects on the activist movements that are still going on today in response to the injustice the survivors had been served. The film has interviews with several survivors of the disaster too. Surprisingly, to this day, Union Carbide still has not faced some punishment for carelessly allowing this event to occur.
In general, it was nice seeing the whole environment of India being shown in this film, unlike the glamorous locations in 95% of Indian movies. This film was not afraid to reveal some rather horrific information and images in order to prove its point. Unfortunately, it does suffer from being one-sided since no one from Union Carbide or Dow Chemicals (which bought UC) had agreed to be interviewed for the film (similar case as the documentary Blackfish). Nonetheless, I was completely shocked about the terrifying truth behind the Bhopal disaster. I knew about it beforehand, but after watching the movie I learned more about the actual events that led up to calamity and some more insight on the legal battle surrounding Bhopal.
Bhopali also gets a little into the corrupt politics that runs the Indian government, and the blatant truth that money runs this world. It drives a lot of people's motives and plans, and the Bhopal disaster could have been avoided if Union Carbide decided to manage their factory more wisely and care a little less about making an extra buck. But of course, that is not the world we live in.
Although the film is informative and advocates for something that is still a major issue today, I have to admit that it lost me somewhere in the middle. Bhopali focused a lot on certain families and their children who had to overcome such brutal challenges due to the disaster. I do not want to pay any disrespect towards those families or whatever ordeals they had, but as for the film itself, Bhopali felt very repetitive and I feel as if some parts could have been easily cut from it completely. It lost its direction for some time, and it took me out of the movie. And then, when it finally starts to pick up again, it decides to end soon after.
Overall, Bhopali is a film whose message I have come to greatly appreciate, but it could have definitely shaved off around 10-12 minutes of its run time; and, it had lost focus halfway through too. Carlson did not do a great job executing the material-good at most-and during a few emotional beats, I did not really feel as sad or shocked as I probably should have. That being said, a lot of the issues brought up in the movie are problems that I personally think the general audience should know about, so I definitely recommend watching the movie. It is absolutely worth knowing about the disaster and the activist movement against Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals, which is still a concurrent matter - 7.5/10
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Este documental rastrea la gran tragedia india de Bhopal después de veinticinco años. Y la verdad, es como si nada hubiera pasado. A lo mejor serviría observar The Yes Men Fix The World y notar como la iniciativa de estos hombres hizo algo que todo el mundo esperaba que ocurriera.
Bhopali impacta sin dramatismo, pone el dedo en la yaga sin fastidiarnos. Su intención, bien lograda, radica en mantener la llama encendida, como la antorcha de hombres y mujeres que recorren las calles clamando justicia. Lastimosamente, todo ello ocurre en un mundo en el que los clamores pocas veces logran algo. Es una pena. Y es triste, como pasa tantas veces, saborear la impotencia.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/16/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
>
