REBIRTH OF COEXISTENCE

The portrayal of nature on the cinematic screen leaves us as silent, merely applauding spectators

- NEERA JALCHHATRI

When the documentary feature My Octopus Teacher won an Oscar in 2020, it drew the world's attention. It was one of the few visual experiences that, without making noise, urged you to feel the pulse of nature. This film requests that you just watch and listen to it peacefully without imposing your thoughts. It has the capacity to teach you the philosophy of living that has shaped humans since primitive times. Through its visual language, this documentary feature establishes a different kind of dialogue with viewers. Although there have been many visual depictions in cinema before which urge careful observation of nature, the number of such scenes is quite small. In this context, My Octopus Teacher is an excellent example of the human story taking a back seat and the patience to feel nature assuming priority.

If we talk about the environment in cinema, it has always been present in some form or another. Cinema has always used the beauty of nature like a theatrical landscape, just like actors in the background who are present yet not present. Viewers' attention rarely goes to them.

Nature is present in cinema just to make a scene more beautiful; the viewer does not linger to watch and listen to it, but moves forward with the story of the main character. Until now, cinema has created such ornamental delineation where the story revolves around a human. The practice of stopping to listen to nature in cinematic scenes, if ever done, is only through a character. Nature itself has rarely been portrayed as a character. Although, there have been some exceptions to this trend that has been ongoing from the past three decades.

Many excellent films have been made on various environmental issues, including Dreams (by Akira Kurosawa, 1990), Fire Down Below (by Felix Enriquez, 1997), A Civil Action (by Steven Zaillian, 1998), Erin Brockovich (by Steven Soderbergh, 2000) and