film

“Against the Tide, ” Sarvnik Kaur’s breathtaking documentary about Indigenous fishermen in Mumbai, India, dispels the myth that cinematic beauty has to do with the power of the camera or the glossiness of the image.

["Against the Tide"] depicts environmental disaster with an intimate lens.

Kaur has said that, during production, one of her editors wanted to know who was the villain of the film. The strength of Against the Tide, though, lies in its even-handedness.

As exacting in its environmentalism as it is piercing in its personal drama.

Beautiful lyrical documentary.

A poignant look at the struggle for a sea-based livelihood through the lens of those trying to uphold the traditional ways even as humanity plays havoc with nature. In contrast, others desperately embrace the future to not be left behind.

Against the Tide takes a somber look, one in which modernism and overconsumption jas stripped not only the resources but the joys in the payoff of a hard day’s work.

"Against the Tide" often looks pristine (gorgeous tableaus and compelling sound design) but its approach to its subjects often feels overdetermined and effortful in a way that makes this a more frustratingly opaque experience than an illuminating one.

What Against the Tide lacks in bombast it makes up for its more pure reflection of life in Mumbai for these two individuals.

This is a worthy film, fast-paced and teeming with ideas, and if it’s not ultimately optimistic about the future, it still highlights the values of ceremonial tradition and communal activity.