As soon as it appeared at Sundance, where it won the grand jury prize, this Indian documentary became a sensation. This was confirmed by the Oscar nomination, and after his debut “Cities of Sleep”, director Shaunak Sen found an incredible story again in his hometown of Delhi. Well, in a city with more than 30 million inhabitants, it is not particularly difficult to find an interesting story, cynics would say, and “All That Breathes” is as much a documentary about the city itself, its inhabitants as it is about the animals that, by force of circumstances, live there now. Brothers Nadeem and Mohammad started the bird clinic after they noticed in their youth that falcons (or hawks, I don’t know which bird species it is called Kite in English) were falling from the sky more and more often.
In the meantime, their garage has turned into a hiding place for all kinds of birds that live there, but as every good documentary about animals is not actually a film about animals, but about people, such is the case with “All That Breathes”. It is a film that stands out for its sensational photography, interesting, artistic direction, and it is certainly a special film that could not possibly be classified as a wildlife documentary. At the same time, it is an observational documentary, an existentialist study, but also a warning about how nature and the world are changing, and an incredible proof of how evolution works. Due to the expansion of cities, numerous animal species had to start evolving even faster and adapt to coexistence with humans, as well as polluted air.
The main habitat of these falcons is mostly huge, endless garbage dumps, mountains of garbage that have turned into the main feeding grounds for all these wild and domestic animals. We see pigs, dogs, rats, countless birds and even turtles rummaging through the garbage and looking for scraps for themselves, and we soon realize that without these animals, which have turned into scavengers, the entire ecosystem of the city would collapse very quickly. It is one of those films where the author acts like a fly on the wall and does not interfere in the story, moreover, it seems as if he is not there. However, he had to record hours and hours of material there, and we also have some really sensational scenes.
While over several years we follow the efforts of the brothers to compete for funds for the construction of a fair shelter at international tenders, Sen also subtly shows how the social climate is changing. We see how the city is becoming more and more polluted and dirty, how the city is becoming more and more violent and Islamophobia is increasing again, which causes additional concern for brothers whose family is Muslim. However, all of that is somewhat beside the point, and although I still expected something more from this acclaimed documentary, it is a somewhat meditative, artistic documentary with a slow pace and often static camera that requires the viewer’s full attention.