SummaryIn one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spen...
SummaryIn one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers — Nadeem and Saud — devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spen...
All That Breathes is the kind of immersive documentary experience other filmmakers, and film lovers, would do well to study. It never feels the need to explain what it’s doing. It’s as calm and patient as the Samaritans at its core.
All That Breathes blends a verité-style character study with gorgeous nature cinematography while never losing the film’s overall commentary on how man interacts with nature—or merely chooses to destroy it through inaction.
The documentary uses the brothers and their relationship with the carrion birds as metaphors for the state of the environmental and political climate of India’s capital, forming a subtle subtext to the main account.
The twin issues of climate change and Delhi’s ensuing air pollution remain largely unspoken factors in Sen’s film, which in its best moments constructs elaborate tracking shots detailing the full scale of devastation caused by extreme weather conditions.
The film follows two remarkable men in New Delhi: Mohammad Saud and his older brother Nadeem Shehzad, former bodybuilders who used their scientific curiosity, compassion and knowledge of human musculature to figure out how to care for sick and injured birds.
It's amazing yet sad how natural selection has allowed wildlife to survive among our filth. 'All that Breathes' is an essential documentary that introduces the noble labor of two Indian brothers and a friend rescuing black kites from New Dehli's heavily polluted environment. Director Shaunak Sen explores the fragility of a now twisted ecosystem and the complicated relationship between the brothers, who face low resources and great frustration while doing their work. And that's not it because the plot develops during violent religious riots; the framing establishes predatory practices between the birds they're trying to save and their hate-fueled neighbors. It's a long shot, but I hope this wins Best Documentary a the Oscars.
In an age where selfishness has run roughshod over selflessness, it’s comforting to know that there are those out there who have not succumbed to these troubling circumstances. Evidence of that is generously served up in director Shaunak Sen’s poetic, gorgeously filmed documentary about a pair of brothers who run a makeshift animal hospital out of their basement to heal injured birds in India’s capital, New Delhi, a city beset by choking environmental conditions and accelerating political and religious violence. The film is positively beautiful to look at and does tremendous justice to the dedication and compassion of these two wildlife Samaritans. In doing so, the filmmaker offers poignant observations about the connections that bind all of us – both man and animal – to one another, despite whatever petty squabbles or secular considerations might attempt to get in the way, augmented by thoughtful voiceovers, a beautiful, atmospheric score, and stunning cinematography, particularly in its close-up footage of the black kites that the brothers so lovingly nurture back to health. A few segments drag a bit, especially with their inclusion of too much needless incidental footage, but, if that’s the picture’s greatest failing, there’s really little to otherwise fault in this widely decorated release. This is the kind of film that beckons us to heed that age-old advice about taking time to stop and smell the proverbial roses – and to teach us all how to take flight as the truly concerted, humane individuals we’re capable of being.