From the film’s intro: “When was the last time you remember death? Perhaps not. Perhaps never. Perhaps always. Perhaps yes. This audio visually ambient film let’s us feel our eternal presence in life and death. I have seen this experiment as a journey of going inside a Burning Ghat, being a part of the cremation process and ultimately achieving Moksha – Reincarnation.”
Ghats in Varanasi are riverfront steps leading to the banks of the River Ganges. The city has 88 ghats. Most of the ghats are bathing and puja ceremony ghats, while two ghats are used exclusively as cremation sites (Manikarnika and Harishchandra) and are called Burning Ghats. “Outside the Burning Ghats” implements a rather experimental approach in presenting what is happening inside one.
Using black-and-white of intense contrast, Anirban Dutta presents a 15-minute-short that uses extreme zoom to highlight a connection between the air (oxygen if you prefer), the fire that feeds from the air and the melting caused by it, through a number of images that show various kinds of drippings. The result is visually impressive, and the fact that what is happening is actually implied, not showed, works quite well for the narrative. Lastly, the presence of the tracks of man during the ending add the human element in the film, which seems to state that this is a place also inhabited by the living.
The overall approach is experimental, but the sentiment communicated by the combination of music and image is that of angst, while a sense of danger permeates the narrative. Water provides a solace to the aforementioned elements eventually, in a part that provides a kind of catharsis, both literally and metaphorically.
“Outside the Burning Ghats” is not a film for everyone, and the fact remains that one has to read the intro to understand what it is about. However, the power underneath the images and the movement presented on screen are undeniable, and Dutta has managed to communicate the sense of death quite eloquently.
