Ajitpal Singh’s realistic drama is one of the typical examples of World Cinema, authentic and realistic films that almost in a documentary style try to capture the real life of people in a certain, often exotic corner of the world. Thus, in the drama premiered at the Sundance festival, we travel to an Indian village at the foot of the Himalayas, to rural areas that are trying to engage in tourism, and we also hear marketing hype that it is the Switzerland of India. And really, they are breathtaking landscapes, mountainous areas that would probably be great to visit and stay there for a few days, but I’m not so sure I’d be too happy if I had to live there.
Chandra, who with her husband Dharam has an inn called Switzerland, is also trying to do tourism. Immediately in the opening scene, we actually see how tourism works there, because Chandra fights with the competition for guests right at the bus station and undercuts each other’s prices in order to attract rare tourists. They live outside the main town, high in the hills, and accessibility is a problem for them, especially since their son Prakash is in a wheelchair, which is quite aggravating because of his daily trips to school and to the doctor, who doesn’t seem particularly professional. And while Chandra spends money to finance the construction of the road to the village, her husband believes more in shamanic rituals, so he will spend all the family’s savings on the engagement of a shaman who will exorcise the demon that took away his ability to walk from young Prakash.
“Fire in the Mountains” was one of those films in which we follow the conflict between modernity and some ancient, primitive, rural traditions and customs. It is a place that seems to be stuck somewhere halfway between the two, and these two worlds will inevitably have to collide. And it was shot by Singh in typical authentic style with a hand-held camera, but still “Fire in the Mountains” was a bit weaker than many similar World Cinema releases I’ve seen. Somehow it still seemed unconvincing to me, especially since it all seems acted and the expected documentary level that is expected in this film has not been fully achieved and it is obvious that Singh still has a lot to learn and absorb from the work of his obvious role model and countryman, his father of the Indian film Satyajit Ray.