In our cynical world, simplicity is often ridiculed or ignored. Simplicity can be mistaken for simple-minded. Do not make that mistake with Amal.
This enchanting Indo-Canadian film is a modern fable. It depends on elegant simplicity to make its case, to tell its modest story about an autorickshaw driver in contemporary New Delhi. Accept it without cynicism and it shines, a light along the path as we explore human nature through cinema.
Filmed in English and Hindi, Amal is the work of maturing Toronto filmmaker Richie Mehta. Originally, Mehta was inspired by a real-life experience and story idea by his brother, Shaun Mehta. With Richie as co-writer and director, they turned it into a short in 2004. It was also entitled Amal.
Expansion into a feature-length project took another three years and Amal made its world premiere as a fully realized film at the 2007 Toronto film festival. This being Canada, a country that is almost paralyzed in its domestic film distribution system, we have been forced to wait another 11 months for the theatrical run to begin. Shameful!
Shot on location in India by a combined Canadian and Indian crew, Amal follows the simple daily life of the title character (played with wondrous conviction and dignity by Canada's Rupinder Nagra). Because this is a fable, and not a guerrilla-style drama with documentary overtones, Amal the autorickshaw driver is an archetype, almost a symbolic work of fiction. As the man many of us might aspire to be in a state of enlightenment, he is incredibly poor, yet rich in spirit, generosity and selflessness.
One fateful day, a curmudgeonly passenger (the peerless Indian veteran Raseeruddin Shah) is struck by Amal's dedication to his job and his utter lack of greed. Wealthy but dying, he decides to bequeath a fortune to Amal.
The entire film concerns how that request is handled by those concerned. There is a shady business partner (Roshan Seth), a profligate son (Vik Sahay), a busy lawyer (Seema Biswas), a love interest (Koel Purie) and other complications, including a young girl who is injured in an accident. She needs hospital care that Amal decides to take responsibility for, even though there is no external reason he should.
As a story, Amal the movie explores what a person gains or loses from the distribution of wealth. As a fable, it examines what elements of our humanity are pure and innocent and what is cruel and useless.
This could all be too precious, or even just annoying. But director Mehta handles his material so deftly we are absorbed in Amal's fate. Mehta also keeps the story motoring along the streets of New Dehli. Because it was shot on location in the streets, the film benefits from the bustle of the city.
It also helps, of course, that Amal the movie is graced with a group of marvellously subtle, yet strongly crafted performances. While Nagra is the heart of the matter, the entire ensemble is dynamic and convincing.
That means this is a story well told.
There are minor flaws, including one assumption about Amal, the man, that throws the plot off for a moment.
But only the cynics would let that ruin a feel-good fable that elevates our understanding of ourselves and of humanity.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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