Tana Bana – Film Review by Frank L.

Directed by Pat Murphy

Pat Murphy has chosen to explain in this 78 minute long documentary the clash in the silk weaving industry in Uttar Pradesh, India between a traditional craft employing many hands and machines making a similar product at a fraction of the cost. In beautiful close up shots, she displays the discipline of the craft workers, young and old, as they carry out with love repetitive and monotonous tasks on a daily basis over long hours. The end product, a beautifully woven saree, they have to sell to the local middle man so that their economic bargaining power is poor. They have in reality only one customer. The production from the mechanised looms which can make silk, even if inferior in quality, at a far greater speed increases the pressure on the craft weavers. Their disappearance seems to be inevitable. However these craft workers have pride in their way of life and in the quality of their silk. They cling to the belief that their craft industry can survive and with it their way of life with its rituals.

It is difficult to share this belief as Murphy with extreme sensitivity shows the almost Heath Robinson way in which these proud weavers, in crumbling buildings and shaky edifices, carry on their craft. It is not only the machines which threaten the craft industry but also laws which regulate the age at which children can work. Murphy does not shy away from laying before her audience the complexity of the issues.

The economic and social issues are gargantuan. What makes this documentary so worthwhile is the lives of the craft workers which she records and the glory of the silk sarees which they create. The colours and patterns are breathtaking.

Tana Bana is released exclusively at the IFI from Friday 9th October 2015. Director Pat Murphy will take part in a Q&A after the screening on 18.30 on 9th October.