Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Kamar Ahmad Simon might be the first director who pinned Bangladesh’s name on the global cinema arena with his first film 'Shunte Ki Pao? (Are You Listening!)' back in 2012.
Kamar, the official invitee at Cannes-Berlin-Locarno, surprised everyone last year by promising to release his latest docu-drama locally before participating in any international festival.
The much anticipated ‘Neel Mukut’ was finally released on Bangladeshi OTT platform Chorki marking the filmmaker’s birthday on Monday (August 9) as theatrical release plans were scrapped for the ongoing pandemic.
The Report’s Showbiz team will look at some of the highlights of the docu-drama which showcases an all-women peacekeeping unit of Bangladesh Police on a UN mission to Haiti. The following review might contain small spoilers. So, viewers who have yet to watch the film are informed not to read ahead.
Scene from the film 'Neel Mukut' | Photo: Chorki
The Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Bangladesh Police have been actively involved in numerous United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since 1988. They have served and sacrificed for the UN for over 3 decades and currently is the second-largest troop-contributing country to UN peacekeeping missions.
Yet, we never saw any of these stories told in Bangladeshi films until now.
The film even begins with an old African proverb: “Until the lioness starts telling her own story, the hunter will always be the hero.” This immediately gives us a sense of we will be dealing with an untold story.
The documentary follows an all-women unit of Bangladeshi police officers who joined the United Nations Stabilizing Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) during the 2014-2015 period. Though ‘Neel Mukut’s’ production details were strictly kept under wraps, press reports of that period suggest that this unit formed one of the world's first all-female, predominantly Muslim peacekeeping units.
Kamar’s camera follows these women of different ages and marital statuses who came from different corners of Bangladesh and went 15 thousand km away from their homes.
‘Neel Mukut’ can be categorised as ‘very textbook’ from the sense that the docu-drama follows these women during their recruitment phase, to pre-deployment training, and has a ‘fly-on-the-wall style’ of documentary storytelling throughout the yearlong mission in Haiti.
Yet, it is so very different from contemporary documentary story structure where these women laugh and point directly to the camera and talk about the cinematographer (Simon himself). This gives the audience a feeling that we are right there with these stereotype defying (and mostly Muslim) women who are representing Bangladesh on foreign soil.
We see their training, recruitment and deployment process. How they communicate with their loved-ones during their high and low points on the mission. Their gossips, discussions, laughter and anger gives us a complete picture of the life of a soldier (more specifically a female soldier) in alien territory.
Scene from the film 'Neel Mukut' | Photo: Chorki
The film also is very entertaining as a standalone media content on an OTT platform. The chain of events Simon chose to showcase in his latest docu-drama are very different from his previous films ‘Are You Listening!’ and ‘Testimony of a Thread.’ The mass audience can easily connect, resonate and be intrigued with the different characters and their conversations shown in the film.
Another striking feature of ‘Neel Mukut’ is how it did not cater to any stereotypical feminist storytelling tropes. Whereas, the film astonishingly embraced the characteristics of the loving, caring Bangladeshi woman who are constantly worried about their loved ones back at home. Still, these strong feminine emotions and their fun-loving and charismatic features do not steer them away from their duties and they confront every difficult situation with a wide smile.
Simon’s camera was never shy of exposing the weakness of Bangladeshi women. But the process he chose to do so formed an even bigger collage of all the strengths of the country’s women possess.
‘Neel Mukut’ is without a doubt a bold new form of feminist storytelling, not only in Bangladesh but among all the contemporary documentary films around the globe. The film has massive potential to receive global critical acclaim.
The film is produced by Sara Afreen and co-produced by NHK Japan, KBS Korea, PTS Taiwan & Mediacorp Singapore.
The 101-minute-long docu-drama is now exclusively streaming on Prothom Alo's OTT platform Chorki.
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