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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
STILL, THE CHILDREN ARE HERE
Focusing on the traditional Garos of northeast India, Still, The Children Are Here is a
documentary with a twist: some of the scenes are reenactments - yet the film works.
Director Dinaz Stafford spent many weeks living in Sadolpara, a village where the people have
lived the same way for thousands of years, growing what they eat and having very little contact
with the outside world. The film at first appears to be a series of unconnected scenes in which
sometimes the dialogue is off-the-cuff, and other times stiff and formal; where the people's
expressions are genuine, and sometimes masks. As the camera simply follows the daily lives of
the hardworking but methodical villagers, the pace is very, very slow.
In spite of this, there is much to see, hear, and especially read between the lines. We see the
villagers at night, smoking and talking freely about work difficulties, relationships and even sex;
and in the field, meticulously growing the precious rice and praying to the goddess of water for
rain. Through these slice-of-life scenes, we learn about a society where a good crop is the
difference between food and starvation, poverty is increasing, illness is common, and death -
especially among children - is horrendously high.
The outside world does slowly make its way into the village. There is the marketplace, which old
women had always visited, but now out of necessity and not as a former luxury; these farmers
have to buy their food, even rice.
The film is unhurried and sometimes feels staged. At first, it seems to have no structure. But in
the end, these intimate scenes all create a clearer, deeper understanding of the difficulties of
tradition and change. Roxana M. Ramirez, Peruvian laywer and journalist, formerly a member of the Peruvian Human Rights and Public Service Ombudsman
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