When the Red Flag Fades

Srijit Mukherji is arguably the most prolific filmmaker in Bengali cinema. His prodigious output inevitably raises questions about his versatility and creative consistency, just as his impressive tally of awards invites scrutiny of his artistic credentials. Yet his recent films, Shotti Bole Shotti Kichu Nei and Padatik, a bio-fiction on filmmaker Mrinal Sen, demonstrate his creative range and assured choice of subjects. With Winkle Twinkle, Mukherji reinforces his standing as one of the more...

min read

Srijit Mukherji is arguably the most prolific filmmaker in Bengali cinema. His prodigious output inevitably raises questions about his versatility and creative consistency, just as his impressive tally of awards invites scrutiny of his artistic credentials. Yet his recent films, Shotti Bole Shotti Kichu Nei and Padatik, a bio-fiction on filmmaker Mrinal Sen, demonstrate his creative range and assured choice of subjects. With Winkle Twinkle, Mukherji reinforces his standing as one of the more distinctive and enduring filmmakers in Indian cinema. Sixteen years after his directorial debut, Autograph, a personal take on Satyajit Ray’s Nayak, he continues to experiment with form and subject. Like several of Mukherji’s films, Winkle Twinkle draws inspiration from a celebrated Bengali play of the same name, written by Bratya Basu and staged in 2002. Basu, a formidable figure in Bengali theatre before turning to full-time politics, had drawn on Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, first published in 1819. Irving’s protagonist falls asleep and wakes up years later to discover that the world has changed beyond recognition while he remains essentially the same. Mukherji and screenwriter Padmanabha Dasgupta transpose this premise to contemporary Kolkata, turning it into a sharp political allegory. Sabyasachi Sen, a committed Communist activist, is presumed killed in police firing during the Emergency in 1976. His body is never found. In reality, he falls asleep and awakens in 2002, physically unchanged but confronted by a world that has moved on without him. The shock begins at home. His wife has aged, and his children have grown up. His son, Indro, who idolised Che Guevara alongside his father as a child, has become an active supporter of the Trinamool Congress. He has little patience for his father’s unwavering allegiance to the CPI(M), a party whose ideological universe has been shaken by the collapse of the Soviet Union. His daughter, born after his disappearance, studies at Indira Gandhi University, a name that evokes for Sabyasachi only the prime minister associated with the Emergency. Posters announcing Mamata Banerjee’s rise confront him on Kolkata’s streets. The political landscape has changed beyond recognition, but Sabyasachi cannot accept that the movement to which he devoted his life has lost its former certainty. Technology bewilders him. More distressing, however, is the discovery that an old party comrade has become a leader of a new political formation and amassed wealth through dubious means. The revolutionary’s world has not merely changed; its moral foundations appear to have crumbled. His wife, once his comrade and fellow traveller, offers him refuge, welcoming his return with affection. Their son, however, refuses to accept him readily. The father-son conflict becomes a confrontation between two political generations: one shaped by ideological conviction and sacrifice, the other by a more pragmatic politics of power. The film moves back and forth through time, mirroring Sabyasachi’s bewilderment and drawing the audience into his confusion. Politics, technology, education and popular culture have all changed, often in ways he cannot comprehend. Some of the sharpest moments are also the most humorous. Sabyasachi recalls filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak marching in a Marxist procession, unaware of how cinema has changed and that another Hrithik — Roshan — is now the more familiar name. When a man at a tea stall expresses astonishment that he has never heard of Sachin Tendulkar, Sabyasachi walks away, explaining that the only Sachin he knows is Sachin Dev Burman. A particularly telling image captures the film’s political imagination: a street magician’s scarf changes from red to green. The symbolism is unmistakable. The red of the Left, once dominant in Bengal, gives way to the green associated with the Trinamool Congress. The cinematography is equally impressive, particularly the transition from colour to black-and-white when the narrative revisits the past. Ritwik Chakraborty is outstanding as Sabyasachi, convincingly conveying the bewilderment and stubbornness of a man unable to reconcile his convictions with reality. Anasuya Majumdar as his middle-aged wife and Sohini Sarkar as her younger self provide strong support. The sudden violence in the father-son confrontation is perhaps the film’s principal weakness, disrupting an otherwise nuanced exploration of ideological estrangement. Yet, Winkle Twinkle remains one of Mukherji’s finest films. Its central insight is both poignant and political: Sabyasachi’s tragedy lies not simply in having lost years of his life, but in discovering that history has moved on without him and that the revolution he believed would change the world has itself become a relic of the past. (The writer is an National Award-winning film scholar.)

Haiti’s Inferno

Correspondent

Jan 8, 2025

3 min read

Updated: Jan 9, 2025

A nation haunted by history and held hostage by gangs.

Few places on Earth have endured as much as Haiti. The first independent Black republic in the world, it emerged from the fires of revolution in 1804 only to face centuries of isolation, exploitation, and instability. Today, the Caribbean nation faces a new kind of torment—gangs that rule vast swathes of its capital, Port-au-Prince, with an iron fist, perpetuating a cycle of violence that has claimed over 5,600 lives in the past year alone, according to the United Nations.

The numbers are staggering. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported a further 2,212 injured and 1,494 kidnapped in 2024, figures that barely capture the horrors faced by Haitians daily. Gang violence has reached grotesque new lows, epitomized by a December massacre in the Cité Soleil neighbourhood, where over 200 people were slaughtered. Allegedly orchestrated by a gang leader seeking vengeance over the death of his child, the killings reflected not only the impunity enjoyed by these criminal groups but also the weaponization of deep-seated cultural fears, as victims were accused of using voodoo to harm the leader’s family.

Haiti’s modern struggles cannot be divorced from its history. The successful slave rebellion that birthed the nation also sealed its fate in the eyes of the colonial powers. France imposed an indemnity in 1825, a debt that crippled the country’s economy for over a century. Subsequent U.S. occupations, Cold War meddling, and decades of corrupt leadership eroded its political and institutional foundations.

The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 marked a grim turning point, plunging Haiti further into chaos. Since then, gangs have filled the power vacuum, controlling key supply routes and entire neighbourhoods. They tax local populations, engage in human trafficking, and often serve as unofficial enforcers for political elites.

Compounding this, Haiti faces a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions. Chronic hunger afflicts millions, cholera and tuberculosis are resurging and essential services including healthcare, are collapsing under the weight of unchecked violence. The situation is so dire that even hospitals reopening after refurbishment are not spared from violence, as seen in the December attack on Bernard Mevs Hospital.

The United Nations-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, bolstered by new contingents from Guatemala and El Salvador, is the latest attempt to address the crisis. However, scepticism abounds. Similar missions in the past have failed to restore lasting stability, largely due to insufficient funding, poor coordination, and the inability to address Haiti’s entrenched economic and social inequalities.

The Haitian National Police has itself been tarnished by allegations of complicity in extrajudicial killings and lynchings. Restoring the rule of law seems a distant dream when law enforcement is both underfunded and mistrusted.

Efforts to stem the flow of arms into Haiti have also fallen short. The country’s porous borders and well-organized smuggling networks ensure that weapons intended for law enforcement or private militias often end up in the hands of gangs.

Cultural complexities add another layer to Haiti’s plight. Vodou, often misunderstood and demonized, is a central pillar of Haitian identity. Born from the syncretism of West African spiritual traditions and Catholicism during the colonial era, it has been both a source of resilience and a target of suspicion. Gangs have exploited these cultural currents to sow fear and justify atrocities.

Haiti’s descent into chaos demands more than piecemeal international interventions. Addressing the root causes of its crisis requires a multi-pronged approach. Restoring governance is paramount. The international community must not only support the MSS mission but also work towards strengthening Haiti’s democratic institutions, curbing corruption, and ensuring transparency in the allocation of aid.

As history’s first Black republic teeters on the brink of collapse, the world faces a moral imperative to act decisively. If not, Haiti’s inferno will continue to burn, consuming not just its people but the hope of a brighter future.

When the Red Flag Fades

Haiti’s Inferno

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