Argentinian documentary filmmakers Camila Menéndez and Lucas Peñafort took cameras to the arid Indian region of Rajasthan for a low-key but affecting look at a grassroots turnaround of one village, suffering from industrial devastation and an age-old culture devaluing women and girls. It tells a positive story with a strong ethnographic background.
Minus narration (or conspicuous intervention by foreign outsiders and NGOs), we enter the village of Piplantri, near one of the region's many marble quarries. Voracious mountain-removal mining has blighted the area's agriculture with dust. Moreover, local Hindi tradition has disdained females; the birth of a baby girl is considered a setback for families now expected to pay heavy wedding dowries. Abandonment/infanticide of girl children have been far from uncommon.
But the community's head man, Shyam Sunder Paliwal, underwent personal trauma with the tragic death of his own teenage daughter from dehydration. In her honor, he started a custom of planting 111 tree saplings (that being an auspicious lucky number) to celebrate the birth of every female in the village. The plants contribute to the vitality and stability of the much-abused soil, and they are timed to attain maturity at the same time as the women (thus inaugurating festivities). There are also funds set aside for education and pledges for girls to avoid underage marriage.
Concurrently, a group of women forms a collective that makes use of their hardy aloe plants, a staple foodstuff, buying equipment and manufacturing/bottling their own aloe juice in an ersatz factory. The enterprise periodically goes dark, as demand waxes and wanes, but the ladies persevere, pool their resources, and hold the business together.
The result is a staid but upbeat look at a badly wounded area in recovery, with the brilliant saris of the women often the only conspicuous spots of color in a landscape of dusty browns and beige. It is easy to imagine the message being that Piplantri has discovered its most important natural resource, and it is not marble after all. Recommended.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Women's-issues-oriented shelves should definitely add Sisters of the Trees to their arbor. It would also find a place in collections centered on environmentalism, Indian culture/heritage, and even foreign travel.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Sustainability-oriented courses, women's studies/feminism, current events and classrooms centered on the history and customs of past and present India are ideal. As the camera eavesdrops on spoken-Sanskrit lessons, among other details, Hindi-language courses could also use the feature as an offbeat teaching tool.
What type of classroom would this documentary resource be suitable for?
Junior-high levels on up should find the content acceptable, if a little restrained in the telling.