FORM-Idea

Another standout feature at this year’s TIFF was A Road to a Village.  This is a beautiful, haunting feature film directed by Nepalese director Nabin Subba.  In it Subba explores the devastating story of what happens to tightly knit rural Nepalese community once a road is built connecting it to the outer world.

The road, funded by the locals brings with its economic devastation for some. Widening an economic divide, which already existed in this isolated community, but one now grown far greater than anyone could have anticipated since this road brings consumer goods that only a few can afford. This is particularly true for the central character, Maila, a basket weaver, whose life up until now was pretty much the same as that of his father and his grandfather.

But with the arrival of the road, the finely crafted goods Maila makes are no longer in demand by those living in the village.  They now want cheaper goods, the plastic replacements brought by trucks, which now supply the village.

Added to this, Maila’s young son becomes obsessed with the prospect of his family owning a new television, one with a staggering price tag. The film charts Maila’s increasingly desperate attempts at fulfilling his son’s desire. A Road to a Village highlights an important fact and it is that modernity brings with it, it’s often unexpected price tag.