True/False Films

Cowboys in India

In person: director Simon Chambers

Sneak preview. A sly subversion of a well-trodden story, Cowboys in India sets up the viewer to believe that we're going to learn about the evils perpetrated by a Western mining company (Ventara) in rural India. The evils are real — a now familiar mix of pollution, land grabs, false promises and thuggish "bodyguards" — but Simon Chambers has a lot more on his mind than a simple exposé. The real narrative in this funny and clever film leaks out in dribs and drabs and concerns Satya (the "organizer") and Doya (the driver) and their complicated relationship with Simon. Playing the very model of the modern British documentarian, Simon confounds all expectations and subtly questions the conventions of the genre. In the end, the threats are more immediate, and more serious, than anyone would have guessed. Plays with Monkey Business (dir. Matthew Killip; 3 min.), in which monkey catchers demonstrate how they trap unruly macaques in Delhi. (DW)

print | close