Against the Tide

Against the Tide

Since the era of Julius Caesar, or even before that, the Arabian Sea which is a part of the Indian Ocean and once served as a major trade route has been fished by India’s Koli caste for nearly two thousand years. But today, this sea is dying because of climate change. It is “relentlessly warming”.

This is worse than what it does to the rest of the earth when we talk about climate change that we are starting to get used to. In addition to being infested with pollutants such as plastic, this movie shows us many rankly harrowing shots of how clogged up with them the sea has become.

“Against The Tide” Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary about environmental disaster from an intimate perspective. It starts at the beginning: a ritual for a newborn child where they oil it and tell him he’s Koli and he should fear nothing.

Kaur shoots and edits like fiction she gets enough “coverage” in scenes of celebration or other kinds of gathering so that she can create narrative lines that move with cinematic drama’s dispatch from one place or event to another Her focus is on two families who fish for their lives.

Rakesh has a small boat and big faith in old ways; Ganesh has more modern technology and is always throwing out metaphoric nets for better catches quicker: one thing he wonders about these days is LED fishing using underwater lights to attract fish. “One shipment of LED lights will make me millions,” he says to his wife on one occasion. Which may be illegal (besides having ecological costs).

Rakesh would find such practice anathema; he sees his livelihood as sacred duty. “Trust the ancestors”: He repeats this adage frequently but do you think they could have anticipated an ecological catastrophe facing this industry now?

It starts off comical between Rakesh and Ganesh when Ganesh lays out payday for Rakesh that will take them both to Scotland (where Ganesh once was a student), for example. But eventually their difference gets in the way and all along they have so many other things to worry about. Ganesh owes everyone and can’t get enough fish together for one big payoff; Rakesh’s son has heart trouble; equipment always needs fixing.

There is still lots of beauty left in this movie’s setting, and Kaur puts some of her people’s conversations in front of stunning sunrises or raging seascapes this imagery serves as a constant reminder of what these men, and the rest of the world, are up against.

Watch Against the Tide For Free On Gomovies.