The Clay Bird (Matir moina)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B
Tareque
Masud’s The Clay Bird (Matir moina, 2002) is a film whose
reputation has grown and grown and grown.
Set in the 1960s, but becoming increasingly more relevant every day, the
film tells the story about a spilt in the Muslim world set in Pakistan. Of course, it applies to other countries more
strongly lately, but this is a rare look at history in a closed society of Islam
that we now know cannot stay self-contained anymore.
The
political divide is mirrored by the married couple in the story falling
apart. The other storyline is the strict
Muslim father sends his son away to a very strict Muslim Madrash. Is the father Kazi throwing him away,
throwing the family away, throwing progress away and/or fighting against the
future? The son has no choice and the
experience is not so great, but without prejudice and the ability to see other
possibilities. Kazi has a faith in
family that is as blind as it is in Islam without questions, but with the
country and world starting to divide, is he protecting them or has he put them
in the ultimate of fool’s danger?
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has some detail issues, but is from a
clean source and looks good otherwise.
Cinematographer Sudheer Palsane (ala Sudhir Palsane) pulls off (with
Production Designer Sylvain Nahmias) the time and place convincingly, including
what feels like a bad sense of things to come that we now all see without even
knowing it. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo is not bad, though has no surrounds.
Extras
include stills, French & U.S. Trailers, DVD-ROM press kit, half-hour making
of featurette, video introduction by the Masuds, three songs from the
soundtrack and multi-section interviews with the cast and crew. That adds up to yet another winning release
form Milestone, who knows how to load up these single DVDs.
- Nicholas Sheffo
