Matir Moina

This was one of my surprise favourites of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2002. It painted a rich picture of life in Bangladesh during the revolutionary period of the 1970's with all it's highs and lows. It is filmed in a very documentary style (the director is a seasoned documentary film maker) with all the facts carefully shown to allow the viewer to make up their own mind on things. The visuals are very clean and colourful (again very documentary-esque) with beautiful shots of the fantastic Bangladeshi landscape. The music used in the film seems to be traditional (not that I know much about traditional Bangladeshi music!) and is very touching.

What is truly remarkable about this film is the way all it's points are well balanced, not showing anything to be absolutely right nor wrong. It's portrayal of Islam is fascinating and I learned more about the religion than I'd known before.

Another astonishing point I got from the film was it painted such a good picture of humanity, warts and all. I was watching this pictures of a normal family who's lives are supposed to be so much different than mine, different culture, politics, religion, who live on the other side of the world and yet then seemed so natural and so familiar, not that different at all really.

It's a film I will never forget and I truly recommend that anybody who gets the chance to see it should.

Tareq Masud excels as the director of "Matir Moina". His early works on the glorious liberation war "Muktir Gaan" & "Muktir Kotha" - his other masterpieces clearly shows the rise of an world class director.

Here he ables himself to portray the beginning of the revolution before the 1971 war with a cool picture of a village where religious strictness & openness both coexists and puts Anu - the central character with a different view. This is the real picture of a moderate muslim country like Bangladesh - where some people are regularly trying to shatter the image of the nice country. This movie will clear the views of the worldwide viewers about Bangladesh.

It can be said that this should be a tough contender in the Oscars. Good luck Tareq Masud!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matir Moina does not only offer a story. Films in general do not need to offer just a story. Any book, play, storyteller, TV series and other media can do that. Being interested in Hindi, Punjabi, Pakistani and Bengali films, music(s), religions and cultures, I was marvelled at Matir Moina for its richness and subtleties on all levels. Bringing forth the complex currents of religious and political movements, showing how each react to one another, and how illusions can be shattered. The beautiful hope of Islam, as being a religion of the heart and not the sword. The post-colonial ebb and flow in cultural identity: people's reactions to British or western thought turns into a sterile regression.

The photography is marvelous, rendering rich textures of age-old village houses, walls and heaven-like gardens in an honest and aesthetic mastery.

The spectator is not taken for granted or for a fool, actors speak Urdu, Hindi, Arabic and Farsi when they have to, and seem more to "be" than to "act". No two-dimensional stereotype is used, as in the classical Hindi "lover", "hater", "gorgeous-bachelor-husband-to-be" and the "beautiful-single-virgin-singer/dancer-lover". Only true faces, true types, true clothes and true singing. The music. If you search for original Hindi/Urdu devotional or not songs and music, this film is packed with it. And unlike other films, you do not feel that actor/singers are faking it, there are not fake instruments that are just there for the looks but don't actually sound on the score. What you see is what you hear. The voices are breathtaking; the lyrics do not revolve around "flat-love" and "depthless-poetry", making it a treasure for the ear as well for the curious eye. This is a gem. The whole film unfolds slowly and steadily around many characters, showing how each develops under harsh social changes and instability.

It is not action-packed and fast-paced. It is not pink-tinted and kitschy love oriented. It is not over the top overdone musical. This is a serious art film, beautiful in its silences and in its screams. Human in its depiction of its characters. Respectful in its dealing with religion. Credible in it acting. A must, for an internal view of what happened to Bangladesh in particular, and to the vast region in general.

Can't wait to see it again.

It's a story of Bengali conservative family, which later turn into a part Liberation war of 1971.

I must say Late Director Tareque Masud put his all thought, creativity and imagination in this one. Perfect choose of shooting area, a great mysterious, unpredictable story makes it one hell of Bengali masterpiece.

And the casting is also nearly perfect, best use of weather situation, Realistic using of Lighting, we Bengali can not think of better movie than it is!

If you are a Bengali, Believe me you wanna see it.

I have marked it excellent and it can be defined by only one word 'ART'. It is rare @Bangladesh to produce ART films Caz these are not commercially benefited.Tareque masud And Catherine Masud have proved that From Bangladesh It is make world class film. Matir moina have a nice combination of simple pictures and a frustrating culture of lower middle class. They have a dark world governed by Religious Dogma. And they don't like to break their narrow life. But nature effects on them. And truth rises. And I have seen here The so-called 'Allah' couldn't save that believer's daughter. A girl was dead. But I question To Tareque Masud did he want to show the crippled culture of Islam or just wished to be liberal to religion and project light to a the direction where religions will go parallel.