Thursday, August 14, 2014

Ship of Theseus - Movie Review

Watched the 'Ship of Theseus', Anand Gandhi's much acclaimed film which deals with organ donation among other things. It took me some research to find out about Theseus and his ship - a question that arises when a ship has been repaired and each plank has been changed for a new plank - would the ship remain the same or is it a new ship. The allusion is to human organs and their identity once they pass into a new body.

So we have an Iranian photographer and her boyfriend. She has a corneal transplant to get her vision rectified. But she is not happy with the new vision, clear as it is. We have a Jain monk who is fighting court cases against cosmetic and pharma companies that use animals for drug testing in a cruel manner and suddenly finds himself in a situation where he has to take the same medicines to counter his liver cirhossis. Then we have a kidney tranplant patient who is a businessman with little regard to finer sentiments or so we think until he realises that a poor man has been cheated out of his kidney in a racket. In the end the beneficiaries of the organs of the donor meet, each perpetuating a life or a function of life thanks to the donor.

The movie runs slowly at its own pace. Though based on the organ donation theme it explores larger ideas through the characters. Apparently Sohum Shah who acted in the role of the kidney transplant patient, stepped in to produce the film and protect its integrity. I am glad he did. Its well made, precise and leaves an impact.







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