In an age where people fret over the implications of buying a DVD player at Walmart for twenty bucks, it is refreshing to find a film that addresses the effects of globalization on a more dignified level than just the consumer’s faux-shame of purchasing mass-produced electronics at reasonable prices.

Khadak, which had its U.S. premier at Sundance, is the first fiction work by seasoned documentarians, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth. The storyline of the film goes quietly along the lines of similar globalization-warning-genre films: Boy/Girl lives in peaceful, rural community untouched by the modern world. Modern world soon arrives, wearing a ten-gallon hat, brandishing guns, raping and pillaging. We all nod our heads in sorrowful contemplation, and for a moment, regret buying that DVD player which was probably made by said Boy/Girl for twelve cents an hour.

All in all, the story is somewhat predictable … if the viewer chooses to stop there. What is so surprising about Khadak is how the filmmakers took such a simple plot line (not a bad “simple”, just concise) and expanded it in such a striking, gorgeous, breathtaking way. Simply put, the film is a visual masterpiece. It is full of perfectly crafted, impeccably framed shots. If I had to describe Khadak in one word it would be “symmetrical.” It is like watching a hot-air balloon expand.

When I started this review, I intended to delve into the story a bit more. I was going to describe the characters in detail. I was going to compare Khadak to other art-house films that it reminded me of. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But I’ve decided not too. Those things do not strike me as the most important qualities about Khadak.

The unique thing about Khadak is that it does rely not on typical mechanisms to tell its story. It is an abstract explosion of images, all of which are so well crafted and thought out that the usual things of which one would rely on to review a film are moot. The story is the visual, not the verbal, and maybe that is why the film makes such a strong impact.

The thing is, the issue of globalization is an inherently important one. It is a valid concern and as human beings we should make a concerted effort to learn more about how our social, political and economic bearings affect other communities.

In short, we should care more.

But in this age of constant media output (lots of it from twenty dollar DVD players) the general public has pretty much seen every didactic, proselytizing film about how global societies are being raped and pillaged by the hegemonic, ten-gallon-hat-wearing majority. We’ve seen these stories, important as they are, told in the same formulaic, snoozy ways. Frankly, we’d rather go watch Borat, thank you.

But Khadak is different. It doesn’t preach or proselytize, and most importantly, it doesn’t judge. It simply tells a story and lets the viewer decide what is right and what is wrong. Khadak’s 22-page script does not inherently dictate how we feel about the film’s story, its images do. And when it comes right down to it, that is what good filmmaking is all about.

[image courtesy of www.khadak.com]