2023 INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF LOS ANGELES REVIEW!
India used to be the world’s top producer of jute, a fiber used for making an abundance of things. However, with the invention of plastic, the need for jute has become less and less. The Golden Thread takes us inside India’s largest jute factory, where workers experience long hours, challenging work conditions, and little reward. In an industry that is greatly suffering, those individuals that make the industry possible suffer the most.
The Golden Thread is slow, very slow–to the point that the first almost twenty minutes is dreadfully boring. The film opens to text across the screen expressing the situation surrounding India and the jute industry, followed by not an ounce of dialogue until the eighteen-minute mark. I found myself confused as to why Director Nishtha Jain believed that this was the best decision. I understand that the film is attempting to include a bit of exposition, a way for viewers to understand the entirety of the process being shown on screen–but it becomes challenging to remain focused, and by the time the ball really gets rolling I was slightly disenchanted by the film. Jain needed to find a better way to pull viewers into the film, to appeal to those viewers in the opening act of the film–but The Golden Thread is a struggle at the start, and I’m not sure that it ever does enough to save itself.
I can certainly understand the purpose behind the opening of The Golden Thread, but I still struggle to appreciate it. Finally, however, the film gets started (really gets started), and viewers get to see and hear about the things that are occurring within the industry. Much like the opening bit of the film, there’s something of a disconnect here–and the separation that is created here makes it challenging for viewers to appreciate the film. I think that there is an audience for this, but I believe that the majority of the world will struggle to understand exactly what is occurring because it doesn’t necessarily hit home. The Golden Thread, as important as it is, isn’t a story that will resonate with the majority of viewers–and I’m part of the group that will inevitably struggle to connect with the things being said and done throughout.
The film’s saving grace is its subjects. There are a series of individuals that are showcased throughout the course of The Golden Thread, and it doesn't take much to understand and appreciate the sacrifices that they make on a daily basis. They are people just like you and me; they are just about as typical as anyone else, and that resonated with me. What made their presence even more powerful is the fact that they seemed alright with their sacrifice, because they understand what needs to be done in order to support their families. They laughed and joked through the difficult conversations depicted on screen, and not a moment passes when these short interviews don’t work to pull viewers in and give them a reason to care.
The Golden Thread will certainly struggle to reach viewers on a number of levels, the most prominent one being that it takes too long to get started, and when it does there’s a massive disconnect between content and viewer. While the individuals being shown on screen do a wonderful job of appealing to the world, they can’t do enough to right the ship and save The Golden Thread. This is a challenging journey to embark on, and I’m not quite sure that it possesses the right amount of luster to appeal to a worldwide audience.
Directed by Nishtha Jain.
Written by Nishtha Jain & Deborah Matzner.
Starring Maqsoood Alam, Babujaan, S.C. Chandra, Prem Chaurasia, Sanjeet Chowdhary, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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