Saw The Cloud-Capped Star, a fairly dismal Indian film about a girl who supports her family of overly-ambitious deadbeats. Her brother wants to be a musician and so cannot work, her sister is an empty-headed flirt, and her father is an academic past his prime. They gladly accept her self-sacrifice, initially appreciatively, then depending on it, and ultimately even sabotaging her future, all the better to keep her supporting them. It is a tragic film, but leavened a bit with moments of wonder.
I can't help but compare this with They Were Expendable. As with that film, the individual is sublimated for the sake of the collective and initially the woman smilingly reminds her family of their dreams when they feel guilty about taking advantage of her. However Cloud-Capped Star takes a much more jaundiced view of self-sacrifice. Their guilt assuaged, her family now thinks nothing of bleeding her dry. Why should they not take what is given to them?
The film is mostly a kind of misery-porn, however there are several moments of true splendor in the film. We open, for example, with the main character girl walking beneath the branches of a truly gigantic tree, her small figure dwarfed by the spreading, branching arms of the tree. Just as she is dwarfed by the tree, so too her family subsumes and swallows her. Near the end, she contemplates running off into a rainstorm. She is smiling giddily, as raindrops land on her cheeks, crying her tears for her. Sublime and poignient.
I enjoyed the film alright. It did drag a bit and, since the brother is a musician, we get a few lulling songs to break up the film. This was nice but also contributed to the runtime. It's not the most uplifting film, but it's pretty in its sadness.
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