OSCARS 2022: Writing with Fire (2021)

2022 is the third year of me participating in the Oscar Death Race. That's a contest devoted to watching all the nominated films in that year's Academy Awards slate before the ceremony. This is, frequently, not as easy as it sounds. You would think producers would want to capitalize on the hype but a lot of nominated films are frequently unavailable. This is especially true in the niche categories, like the shorts, International Feature, or Documentary Feature. It seems, every year, there's always a film that is difficult to get a hold of. This year's white whale is “Writing with Fire.” The documentary is barely playing in theaters, not on any major streaming services, or on available on DVD just yet. The film has had several special digital screenings through various avenues but, frustratingly, only in a truncated hour long version. Finally, the full-length cut became available for digital rental... In Canada. Luckily, VPNs exist and now I can check this one off my list.

So what is “Writing with Fire” about? The documentary follows Khabar Lahariya, a newspaper from India run by Dalit women. That would be the country's lowest caste, who often face violence and persecution for their standing in Indian society. A woman named Meera has run the paper for fourteen years, with a staff of all female writers and editors. They ask hard questions and record everything with their cell phones, often speaking truth to power in a world where the consequences are very real. As Meera attempts to pivot the paper towards digital video, the journalist reports on the increasing political division facing India as a country.

The women of Khabar Larariya obviously make for a pretty dramatic story. Here are a group of brave women, trying to challenge the status quo and tell ignored truths, despite facing maltreatment from all sides. The obvious way this is true is because they are women, attempting to do a job in a traditionalist country. Throughout the film, we see them deal with countless different types of sexism. Politicians and policemen laugh off their concerns and don't take them seriously. Men get right in their faces, give them the creepiest grins, and even try to lift up their dresses at one point. A major conflict within the film involves one of the paper's rising writers deciding to leave the work force and be a stay-at-home wife. Meera admits that she understands, when being a journalist and a woman is a position that regularly puts their safety in jeopardy.

If the journalists of Khabar Larariya face considerable challenges as women, they also have to deal with the rigors of being Dalit. India’s caste system is something I don’t totally grasp, rooted in religious and societal beliefs. Yet “Writing with Fire” makes it clear that the prejudice Dalit people deal with is just another manifestation of the same class divisions that effects the entire world. Early on, we meet a Dalit woman who has been repeatedly raped and attacked, the police ignoring her pleas because of her social standing. When one of the reporters brings this up to a police chief, he’s feckless in his denials. We also get a glimpse at an illegal mining operation going on in India, run by the local Mafia and putting countless lives in danger. “Writing with Fire” directly exposes injustice on camera, about as justified a use of cinema as you can think of.

“Writing with Fire” also shows India in a time of transition as a country. And one that will be familiar to American viewers. Hindi Nationalism is on the rise in India, thanks to the enflamed rhetoric of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We see Modi and his fans threaten violence against their enemies. They mirror catchphrases and chants, swept in a wave of nationalistic pride that’s built on a distrust and hatred of outsiders. We even see a comment on one of Khabar Larariya’s YouTube videos — the pull between traditional press journalism and new media is another thread throughout the film — simply says “Fake news!” These kind of attitudes are coming to prominence all over the world, it seems. 

Despite dealing with a lot of obviously pretty heavy topics, “Writing with Fire” still paints its story as primarily an inspiring one. These women are brave, no doubt, standing up to long-held institutions of power in their country and exposing injustice at its source. Yet the filmmakers deciding to hammer the “inspiring” cord so much, which you can see in the editing and hear in the score, makes “Writing with Fire” feel a bit fluffier than it probably should be. Still, this is an important story to tell and one that clearly needed documenting. Any film that takes us out of our comfort zone and into the heart of another country, showing us the good and the bad, is worth seeing. [7/10]