Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain

Indian filmmaker Ravi Kumar pulls off a difficult task here, recreating the 1984 leak of methyl isocyanate at the American-owned Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, which killed at least 10,000 people and injured many more. Kumar starts this complex, culturally sensitive tale at a point prior to the catastrophe, when the plant was constantly on the brink of lethal accidents, yet no one dared mention it. Bhopal features several characters whose priorities offer differing perspectives on the real-life events, including a hard-pressed working man (Rajpal Yadav) who lands a job at the chemical factory in time to keep his family from starving (and serve as host for his sister's wedding). Also on hand are a pair of journalists (Kal Penn, Mischa Barton) who are digging into lax oversight by Union Carbide, and a visiting American executive (Martin Sheen) who is trying to keep everybody happy despite problems. Bhopal is a technical marvel given the simple effects that Kumar uses to illustrate the disaster, which made many people very sick very rapidly. Recommended. (T. Keogh)