I went to see Highway the other day, it was a really fascinating and beautiful film. I gave up on Indian cinema a long time ago. This is the first film in a long time that I've actually looked forward too. And I wasn't disappointed.
It's a strange experience; to watch an Asian film in a theatre full of Asians in a not so Asian part of the city-- and to remember that you belong to more world than one; to remember your identity encompasses so much more than you could ever come to understand.
I really liked this film, I liked the poignant and soulful music, I liked that it seemed to almost be an ode to life and living, I liked the two main characters, both highly complex, both wrought by their own insecurities and personal struggles and seemingly hopeless narratives- narratives that inter-cross, as it goes in life---
I think more than anything I loved the awe-inspiring landscapes; the journey--- so familiar, the journey; takes me back to those winding mountainous roads of Pakistan, to the beautiful green valleys and crystal blue rivers, to those lush green villages and to the arid wide open plains; the galaxies above them. The South Asian sub-continent is so vast and varied and beautiful--- like the people its home too. The people. This film really conveyed the depth and difference of the people of India; in terms not only of class, but of absence, of shared differences, and variant similarities.
This film really spoke to me personally in a lot of ways. Having lived in Pakistan for a time, having felt slightly like the protagonist Veera, stifled by society, enclosed and imprisoned by the small-mindedness of people---- in need to freedom and connection and reality; translated into that one simple dream; a house in the mountains. But then to find comfort and solace in the most unlikely person. That's life, really, that is life. You come to meet the one under the most unfortunate and hopeless circumstances, and then your left to start again, to pick up the pieces, to put them back together, but differently.... watch this film...
