Cultural Proof (small) – Ex-political prisoner shares his story

A few nights ago we went to hear a Tibetan ex-political prisoner tell his story. He had recently come from Tibet after being imprisoned by the Chinese government for several years. I feel like we’ve already heard so many of these kinds of stories, but they have usually been told through a film or second-hand accounts, and are stories that took place more than 20 years ago. This however, was a chance to hear of something more recent and to hear it first hand.
I regret to say that it was a little hard to pay attention at times because there were a lot of people in a small room, sitting on a hard floor for about an hour and a half. I don’t mean to complain, because after hearing what this man went through, sitting on a hard floor sounds more like a reward. I just mean to say that at times I was distracted, and so I apologize that my notes are not a perfect representation of all that was said.
Despite my temporary distractions, what I did hear and take note of was enough to finally secure in my mind the reality of the injustice being done in Tibet through China’s occupation.
This man was arrested for holding up a Tibetan flag in a protest. Yes, it was a protest, but from what he told us, it was peaceful. Others have been arrested just for putting up pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (not even as part of a protest). And for this man being arrested wasn’t just being held in jail for a while and then let go with a warning not to protest anymore; it was being was being beaten, interrogated, and beaten again day after day. It was standing naked with the other prisoners in front of the police. It was being forced in the cold Tibetan winter to stand outside barefoot and barelegged on a patch of ice for hours at a time. It was years in jail. And it was watching his friend’s limp body, after being beaten to death, as it was dragged down the jail stairs to be disposed of…

Before hearing this man’s story, I had questioned a little bit what the situation really is like in Tibet. I don’t know for sure why… it’s not that I didn’t believe what I had heard, or that I doubted an injustice was being done against Tibetan’s human rights, but I think that because most of what I had heard was through films and second-hand sources, and always from the point-of-view of Tibetans, I suspected that there could be some exaggeration as I know there often is in any kind of passed down story. But for some reason it’s the sorrow stories that I have the hardest time believing freely. Maybe it’s a protection against people trying to make me pity them in order to take advantage of me, or maybe it’s because
I like to hear both sides of a story before I take a definite side, but I had only ever heard Tibet’s side of the story. Maybe it's a combination of all those things, but when comes down to it, I think I have basically been a little insensitive towards the issue. However, after hearing this man’s personal story and knowing that he experienced it and not someone else, it kind of clicked for me that this really is a huge problem and it’s going on right now. Whether China thinks they are helping Tibet or not, they did not help this man or his friends.

I wish there was more I could do to help the situation, but at least for now, Tibet has my sympathy. I am grateful that they have received kindness and freedom in India, and that is a large part of what I want to explore with my documentary. But I have also seen how much the people miss their country and how much they long to one day go back. So I hope and pray that one day they will be able to do this.

Driving Through McLeod from Matt Merrill on Vimeo.

Driving through McLeod Ganj, the town where I will be shooting the documentary. Sorry for the glare on the taxi window.

The Space Between Us

The Space Between Us

By Thrity Umrigar

            I started writing about this book when I was about halfway through it, but I never finished writing and now I am almost finished with the book. I chose it because I wanted a book with two main characters (because my film will have two main characters) and it takes place in India (and I am in India). That’s about all I knew when I first picked it up.

For those who don’t know anything about the book, which is probably most of you, I’ll give you the set up:

            The Space Between Us is the story of two Indian women, one living in the slums with her granddaughter, and the other a middle-class parsi (Zoroastrian) woman living in a home with her daughter and son-in-law. The woman from the slum works for the parsi woman, and the book takes turns going back and forth between the perspectives of the two women. Most of the story unravels through their thoughts, as they remember their difficult pasts, analyze their current states, and try to predict what will become of their futures and the futures of their children. Although the two women come from separate backgrounds and see each other as very different from themselves, they both have similar troubles and worries and think surprisingly alike. Being able to read the story from both of their perspectives narrows the distance between the two woman for the reader and shows that maybe the space between the rich and the poor isn’t as wide as we often judge it to be.

Good Feelings, Guilty Feelings

The Good

I’m making some great leeway with my film. I’m finding a lot of good stories to follow, and hearing a lot of interesting things about my topic from many different people. This last week Julia and I went and talked to Sonam, the assistant director of the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution, which is very much dedicated to improving relationships between Tibetans and Indians. The sad part is, they won’t be having any workshops while we’re here, but Sonam agreed to do an interview later on and even said they could provide me with some still pictures of past workshops. I haven’t started filming any people yet, as I’m still waiting for my consent form to be translated, but I am still collecting shots from around the town, which is fun but difficult because I want to film everything.

The Guilty

The hardest thing right now is that sometimes I feel guilty pulling out my camera to film things around town. I feel kind of like a spy, but not a cool spy; I feel like a spy who doesn’t want to be a spy, but doesn’t know how else to accomplish the mission.  For Jeff, Brad, or anyone else with experience in documentary or photography, do you know what I mean? I’m not sure if I feel guilty because I am recording people and things without anyone knowing it, or if it’s because people do notice and I’m worried about what they will think of me. Or maybe it’s the thought that ultimately I will decide what my viewers see and I will, to a significant degree, control how my audience views and judges the people and places shown in the film. Of course, I want to use this film for good; I want my audience to love the characters and to learn from their examples, but I it’s scary to think that I could just as easily do the opposite. A camera is such a powerful tool. I think that’s what scares me the most about documentary…

So I will be careful as I proceed. I still want to make the film, and I feel that my intentions are right, but I recognize the need for caution. I am thankful to have Brad and Jeff helping me with this project and I am also thankful in advance to any others following this blog who are able to give advice. Last of all I am thankful for prayer because I am sure that I will be saying many along the way, asking for guidance and confirmation to what I am doing. Hopefully the product of all these things will be an amazing film that uplifts and inspires.

Thanks again to everyone for your support.

Did you see the Dalai Lama?

We missed out on it, but we heard yesterday that His Holiness The Dalai Lama walked from his house to the temple and that lots and lots of people gathered to see him. Most of the time The Dalai Lama is very busy traveling and teaching in different parts of the world or working out business or in meditation so it’s actually not that often that people can see him even in his current hometown. Thus, any chance people do get, they are very eager to see him, even if it’s just for a moment or two. It just goes to show how highly the Tibetan people hold their spiritual leader and how important he is to their lives.

This is all leading up to a story by the way. Julia and I are trying to learn some of the Tibetan language so we have been practicing. Last night during dinner I asked our host mother if she saw the Dalai Lama that day, “Te-ring kay-rang His Holiness Tong-gi-yin?” I was very proud of myself for figuring out the whole sentence by myself and for remembering the verb “Tong” for “to see.” Our host parents on the other hand did not congratulate me, but instead reacted somewhat in shock, telling me not to use “Tong” but a different word (which i have now forgotten), which is the honorific form of “to see.” In Tibetan there is both a regular version and an honorific version of every verb and noun. However, the little Tibetan phrasebook we have does not include these honorific versions of these words, so I only knew “Tong”. I was really happy just to have remembered that, but for our host parents it seemed offensive to speak of His Holiness in that way. Again, it just shows how much they truly respect and love The Dalai Lama, and it taught me a valuable cultural and linguistic lesson. Needless to say, I think I’ll ask for the honorific version of a word next time I want to say something about The Dalai Lama or any important leader for that matter.

Started Filming!

Started some filming today! I’m trying to get some general and “First Impression” footage of McLeod Ganj, as well as anything else I can foresee being helpful to the film.

Here are some shots I have already:

- Dharamsala valley, with emerging tree-covered hills and mountains

- The hills of McLeod Ganj, covered in tall, stacked houses

- An above view of a street with people, cars, buses, rickshaws, and a cow passing by

- A Tibetan flag blowing in the wind

- A sticker with the Dalai Lama that says “Thank You INDIA, 50 years in exile”

- Lots and lots of monkeys

I have a lot more things to film of course, but anything anyone else thinks would be vital to see in setting up the area, feel free to make suggestions!

Story Outline

 We’ve been in McLeod Ganj for a week now and I’m getting ready to start some initial filming and a deeper search for my two main characters. I am actually pretty optimistic right now because it seems like there is enough conflict and enough success to make a good story about my topic. In this last week I heard a story about a bunch of Tibetans beating up an Indian guy, and then I heard another story about some Tibetans who take care of a crippled Indian. I hope to investigate both of these more in depth, as both would be of great value to my story.

I’ve written out a brief, possible story outline for the film. It may be subject to change of course, but it’s always good to have a direction.

This is what I’m thinking:

Exposition:

• ·         Introduce Tibetan and Indian main characters (one at a time)

o  Explain who they are and how they came to be in Dharamsala

• ·         With these introductions, introduce the area – “First Impressions” clips

• ·         Characters describe the area/situation/Indian-Tibetan population

Inciting moment/Rising Action:

• ·         Through interviews with, or observational footage of general population, start to introduce conflicts between Tibetans/Indians

• ·         Go back to the two main characters and show what they’re doing to counteract conflicts and improve relations

• ·         Show conflicts/difficulties in these character’s goals

Crisis:

• ·         Any additional big-time conflicts in the community or main character’s lives

Climax/Resolution:

• ·         Main character’s finding success

• ·         Others in the community following their example, helping others

• ·         Farewells to main characters, any final comments from them

Also I thought I might add I’ve been reading a report from a former India field study student who came a couple years ago and studied the relationship between Indians and Tibetans. She was looking at it from more of a technical and political perspective, but what she found has been a help to me in understanding the situation. Basically what she says is that the general rule for good relationships between separate communities, people, or cultures, is that the more interaction there is between the two, the better the relationship is. But what’s strange about Dharamsala and McLeod Ganj is that the Tibetans and Indians tend to keep to themselves, but somehow still manage to have a good relationship (good mainly meaning non-violent or non-problematic). In her research she came to the conclusion that the reason they have a good relationship despite their lack of interaction, is that they have found a way to benefit from each other. Tibetans benefit from India because they have been given a place to live and have been granted the ability to run their own government. In return, Indians benefit financially from the great amount of tourism that Tibetans have brought to this part of India. So because of the benefits, neither side has a lot they can complain about, because without each other, they would probably be worse off.

So that explanation could possibly come in to play somewhere in the film, but I don’t think it necessarily needs to for my purposes. Either way, this study has helped me to understand the relationship better, and I feel like it will at least guide the direction and questions of the film.