Run To The River

A young girl in British Bengal sees her life change when her parents marry her to an older man during hard times.

There is a revolution of fire taking hold in British Bengal, and while the movers and the shakers are busy making power grabs in amongst all of the chaos, the local people are having to endure less money, less food, and more difficult living conditions. Even though she tries to do well for her family, and is still underage, Pakhi’s (Roy) parents have decided to marry her to an older man in return for a dowry. Pakhi is still very young, and she seeks guidance from an older widow, Khandi (Saha) as well as listening to the story her mother tells her, of the beautiful natural purity of the river.

Pakhi’s longing to see the river one day is a guiding light for her, especially when she finds out that marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sadly, a life out beyond the boundaries of her existence, outside the vicinity of her parents’ home or her husband’s compound, will only ever be a dream to her. As the burning revolution takes place all around, Pakhi must deal with her own rights being forever ignored.

From writer/director, Anuparna Roy, Run To The River takes us on Pakhi’s journey, settling us into her life and her relationships while she waits for destiny to come for her. At twenty-six minutes there’s plenty of time for this to happen, as well as for some nice establishing shots of life in the Bengal countryside. The dialogue itself is actually pretty sparse, and a lot of the narrative comes from the situations we see on-screen, detailing the daily lives of the people on the land. While this might at first seem like it keeps Run To The River a little light on story, it’s the context that matters, and Roy creates acres of space for her story to grow into from the time we spend witnessing Pakhi’s life turn around.

There’s a strong sense of authenticity in Run To The River, which Roy has been careful to collect and curate in her depiction of rural life at the time. Managing to convince people from her own village to participate in the film, Roy encapsulates the story she knows so well and shows it as close to how she knows it to be through her camera. There’s an other-worldly nature to the film, which opens up a window to somewhere most of us have never been, and shows us in great, gentle detail how life there took shape. In an almost documentary type manner, we’re asked to peek into Pakhi’s life as she goes through a traditional rite of passage, all the while there’s revolution happening in the background.

There’s real depth to Run To The River, with layers of story being piled upon the youngster who is coming-of-age, and big themes getting expressed in a real-world setting. Roy’s visual storytelling helps pull all of this together into the frame, and despite a rather leisurely pace and gentle feel, there’s real horrifying truths being shared across the camera. Run To The River showcases a real talent for visual language from the filmmakers, transporting the viewer into Pakhi’s life for a short half-hour, and allowing us to live there with her, even if we are then left forever dreaming of a far-away river we may never get to.