I felt really quite uncomfortable watching this short film. It's centred around the eponymous young lad (Sagar Salunkhe) who spends just about every waking hour working at a brick kiln. His parents owe the owner !0,000 rupees but all "Kavi" wants to do is play cricket with the schoolboys he sees every day. His brute of a boss (Ulhas Tayade) promises him a game if he can clear all the reject bricks, but with that prospect looking less and less likely - as he is left chained to a wall - he must surely turn his mind to a change. His encounter with some strangers in the forest might just offer him a glimmer of hope... The performance from the young Salunke is really good here, and as the story contrasts his instinct for freedom with his need to keep his parents safe, the young man faces quite a conundrum - he and 27 millions of others reputedly "employed" in modern day slavery throughout the world.
3 Reviews
Probably the Oscar favorite and my favorite of the five nominees
planktonrules27 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I am going to say something rather radical. Over the last several years, I've gone to the showings of both the animated and live-action short films that were Oscar nominated. For the first time ever, I went to a showing and didn't particularly like any of the films--as was the case with the live-action ones for 2010. I didn't think any of them were bad but i also didn't think any were Oscar-worthy--and most of them were amazingly unpleasant--like the Academy deliberately tried to pick the most unpleasant films they could this year. Perhaps 2008-9 was a poor year for live-action films or perhaps this just shows a bias of the people picking them. However, I can't see the public in general enjoying most of the films or wanting to see them.
Of the five nominees for 2010, this is my favorite film and the one that seems to be the favorite for the award. It has something the other shorts don't have in its favor--it is a message film that is about a serious international problem--slavery. While technically, some might argue this isn't slavery, per se, in the film, practically speaking that is exactly what it is and the film is heartbreaking.
Kavi is the young boy who, along with his parents, lives a hellish life. The three of them work from sunrise to sundown at a slave labor camp in India where they make bricks. In contrast to this backbreaking work, Kavi sees other kids his age nearby going to school and playing. It's obvious he longs for a normal life. However, the folks who run this place are cruel and brutal. Eventually, government officials come to the place and it looks as if the scum that run the place will be able to hide the slaves and get away with their actions. See the film to see what will happen next.
There is a lot to admire about this message film. First, although it's an unpleasant film, there is a reason for the unpleasantness--slavery is evil and cannot be sanitized. Second, the film was made by a students as his masters thesis--which is amazing. Such a high quality film from an amateur is amazing. The only negative is that the camera work was, occasionally, rather jerky--which is relatively common these days but which is very hard on the eyes when you see this on a big screen. Still, this is my only misgiving and I look forward to seeing the Oscar results on March 7th.
UPDATE--3/7/10. Well, I got another one wrong. "The New Tenants" won the award. Oh well, at least I picked the best animated short correctly this time!
Of the five nominees for 2010, this is my favorite film and the one that seems to be the favorite for the award. It has something the other shorts don't have in its favor--it is a message film that is about a serious international problem--slavery. While technically, some might argue this isn't slavery, per se, in the film, practically speaking that is exactly what it is and the film is heartbreaking.
Kavi is the young boy who, along with his parents, lives a hellish life. The three of them work from sunrise to sundown at a slave labor camp in India where they make bricks. In contrast to this backbreaking work, Kavi sees other kids his age nearby going to school and playing. It's obvious he longs for a normal life. However, the folks who run this place are cruel and brutal. Eventually, government officials come to the place and it looks as if the scum that run the place will be able to hide the slaves and get away with their actions. See the film to see what will happen next.
There is a lot to admire about this message film. First, although it's an unpleasant film, there is a reason for the unpleasantness--slavery is evil and cannot be sanitized. Second, the film was made by a students as his masters thesis--which is amazing. Such a high quality film from an amateur is amazing. The only negative is that the camera work was, occasionally, rather jerky--which is relatively common these days but which is very hard on the eyes when you see this on a big screen. Still, this is my only misgiving and I look forward to seeing the Oscar results on March 7th.
UPDATE--3/7/10. Well, I got another one wrong. "The New Tenants" won the award. Oh well, at least I picked the best animated short correctly this time!
special
Kirpianuscus18 September 2017
a delicate theme. and the right manner to show it. this is all. a film like a sketch in the morning light. impressive for what it suggest. for the simple solutions . for the story of a boy, so simple, touching and realistic. "Kavi" has the high gift to present, with admirable precision, the universe of a boy in its basic traits. and this does it special. because it is one of rare films like a direct speech. out of technique performances, out of subtle solutions. a testimony about a life. and its dreams and its refuges and its desires and the brutality against it. only as a precious puzzle about a world and powerful attack against modern slavery. the delicate science to reflect the Kavi universe. this is its basic virtue. and the motif to see the film.
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