Origin

Origin is like looking at the instructions on how to build gallows so that we can dismantle it, take it apart, and tear it down. As a white American male born into an upper middle class family, I don't feel comfortable analyzing this film because who am I to do that? What I can say is that, while I found watching the film to be a harrowing experience, many of the peoples addressed in this film find leaving their homes a harrowing experience. Will this film solve that? Of course not, but this one and the next one and the one after that will slowly chip away at the mountain of oppression history has placed on them. While I'm often not a fan of films with a message, I'm fond of the message I found in this film. [Note: I've read some compelling critiques of the caste theory presented in this film and by the woman this film is based on. While I'm no where near qualified to comment on that theory's validity, or lack thereof, I maintain that this patchwork movie encourages us to think about injustice and that's important enough for me.]

I had a lovely time watching this, I thoroughly enjoyed Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor's performance but unfortunately, there were plenty of moments that felt when it came to the emotional weight the main character was dealing with, just didn't hit as strongly for me. I do not know the book and have no interest in reading it so when it comes to the thesis being presented I am simply not intelligent enough to make a constructive comment. It's definitely 30 minutes too long and I kinda concluded that the material would have been more suited to a documentary-style film. The whole thing around what goes on in India to this day is something I didn't know which left me quite shocked.