Seto Surya
I loved the Nepalese movie ‘Seto Surya’ (White Sun) directed by Deepak Rauniyar.
The story is set in a remote village in the hilly mountains of Nepal. The ageing father has died and there aren’t enough able men left in the village to carry him to the cremation.
The younger son is a revolutionary Maoist who is away fighting against the monarchy in Nepal for almost a decade. The elder son serves in the army. The dead father was a staunch supporter of tradition and the monarchy. The death of the father is symbolic of the end of the old order. The king has been overthrown and a new constitution is to be announced.
Children and women are the casualties of war. The conflict has taken its toll on the lives of ordinary people. An orphaned boy roams the streets after his parents were killed by Maoists. He tags along with the younger son who has just returned home after hearing of the father's death.
The brothers are at odds with each other because of their conflicting ideologies. They now have to carry their dead father downhill from the village to the riverbed for the last rites. However, they curse and taunt each other midway. The village elders in the procession intervene to stop a fistfight but the elder one leaves the corpse there and walks away.
The corpse represents a country facing uncertainty. The dead body lying along the path depicts a state of limbo. An unwillingness to depart from old customs, traditions, and perpetuation of caste dominance. A potter who is climbing up the hill asks for a way to move ahead. He is admonished for being a low caste and asked to go around the path. Nothing much has changed despite the revolution. The corpse stays there till dusk with no one to move it further.
The stalemate continues into the night. The elder son has now brought his people from the army to help. The younger son has his comrades from the revolution join in. The opposing groups clash with each other in the darkness caring very little for the women and children caught in the crossfire.
By morning the corpse is nowhere to be found. The children had collectively moved the body downhill and transported it to the river bed for the final cremation.
In essence the hope of a brighter future now rests with the next generation.
P.S. Seto Surya (White Sun) refers to the symbolic white sun on the Nepali national flag representing the ‘fierce resolve’ of Nepali people.
