The Clay Bird (Matir Moina, 2002) is an affecting portrait of a family dealing with the impact of religious belief on their lives during the struggle for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. The film moves back and forth between the experiences of a young lower middle class boy Anu (Nurul Islam Bablu) who is sent away by his Orthodox Muslim father Kazi (Jayanto Chattopadhyay) to a madrasa (an Islamic seminary), much to his mother Ayesha's (Rokeya Prachy) dismay. At the harshly disciplinarian school, Anu encounters children from all walks of life, including the school's black sheep Rokon (Russell Farazi) whom he befriends despite the fact that the other students ostracize him. At the strict madrasa Anu is surrounded by orphans and children from underprivileged backgrounds in a setting which allows the film's director Tareque Masud to show both the intolerant and the reflective side of Islam.

Many critics compared The Clay Bird to the work of Indian director Satyajit Ray. In this intimate and nuanced portrait, Tareque Masud shows the diversity and complexity of Bangladesh life before the revolution including its rich folk and religious musical traditions.

The conflict between Anu's orthodox father and increasingly independent mother is complicated by Kazi's younger brother Milon (Soaeb Islam) who becomes deeply involved in the fight for Bangladesh independence. Additional stress is caused by a devastating battle between Anu's parents over the treatment of his young sister Asma (Lameesa Reemjheem) who has become gravely ill but whose father denies her access to antibiotics out of religious belief.

That family split is echoed in a similar division between moderate and extremist forces at the madrasa and the country's greater conflict between Bangladesh's struggle to be a democratic, secular society and the desire of an Islamic military junta to establish religious control over the populace.

"The problem begins when we try to claim that any belief system is the only solution to every issue and aspect of life. In all religions, there is a danger of extremism, and Islam is no exception," notes Tareque Masud, of his measured view of Islam in the film.

The Clay Bird was the opening film in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and won the International Critics' Prize in that section for "its authentic, moving and delicate portrayal of a country struggling for its democratic rights." The film was also the first ever Bangladesh entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called the film, "easily one of the finest pictures of this year or any other. Masud's expansive fluidity is rapturous, inspired equally by the floating equanimity of Satyajit Ray and the work of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami."

The Guardian's critic Peter Bradshaw in his review responded to the unusual tolerance and openness of the film's message in a time when views of Islam have become extremely narrow.

"The film offers a valuable and independent engagement with Muslim history, quite different from the ugly fight-to-the-finish promoted elsewhere in the media, and constitutes a nuanced riposte both to the dogmatic verities of religion and also to a species of Islamophobia that assumes the Muslim world to be crudely monolithic."

Tareque told the French newspaper Le Monde of the film's portrait of his native Bangladesh, "This reality has nothing to do with its image abroad, of a poor country of famine, flood and fundamentalism. I wanted to convey my own image of my country, that of a moderate Muslim Bangladesh, and to bring out its social, cultural and political diversity."

The story for The Clay Bird came out of Masud's own experiences as a child at a madrasa during the late Sixties during the turbulent Bangladesh struggle for independence. By 1971 after a violent civil war between a poorly armed population and US-backed Pakistani military forces, the country broke away from the Great Islamic State of Pakistan. An estimated three million Bengalis were killed in that conflict.

After the war, Tareque left the madrasa and began his studies at Dhaka University where he studied history and became involved in the film society movement. He worked for a time in New York with his American wife Catherine on the documentary Song of Freedom (Muktir Gaan, 1995) before returning to Dhaka to continue his film career and to run the film production firm Audiovision with his wife. The Clay Bird was their first feature film.

The Masuds received the support of the French government and the involvement of Paris production and distribution firm MK2 to undertake their one and a half year long filmmaking project. They invested their life's savings in the film. Using actual local students, teachers, street children and villagers and real locations, the Masuds aspired to create an authentic portrait of the culture. The only professional actors in the film were Jayanto Chattopadhyay and Rokeya Prachy.

That realism may have been too much for the Bangladesh government though. Despite international outcry and support of the film, the Bangladesh Censor Board banned The Clay Bird for being too religiously sensitive. After much campaigning, that ban was lifted, albeit not before cuts were made to the film.

Director: Tareque Masud
Producer: Catherine Masud
Screenplay: Catherine Masud and Tareque Masud Cinematography: Sudheer Palsane
Production Design: Kazi Rakib, Sylvain Nahmias
Music: Moushumi Bhowmik
Cast: Nurul Islam Bablu (Anu), Russell Farazi (Rokon), Jayanto Chattopadhyay (Kazi), Rokeya Prachy (Ayesha), Soaeb Islam (Milon), Lameesa R. Reemjheem (Asma), Moin Ahmed (Ibrahim).
C-94m. Letterboxed.

by Felicia Feaster