Mother Nature has it all for us?

Rice People (អ្នកស្រែ, Neak Are, Cambodian; 1994)

Story based on: Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan by Shahnon Ahmad

They say ‘Mother Nature has all for us, it is a miracle!’. The hippies say they do not need any education and self-control, all they need is the air that they breathe, love and weed, probably. We are told that we have to show respect to Nature as we owe our existence to it.

After watching this movie, only then do you realise that Nature is neither forgiving nor forthcoming in rendering a smooth passage for our survival. It is indeed a Herculean task extracting produce from its soil. This film, based on a novel by a Malaysian laureate, Shanon Ahmad, Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan (Struggle all the way), just illustrates that. This movie, made by a Cambodian, is altered to suit local sentiments and is the first Cambodia’s entrance to the Academy Awards.

Pouev is a farmer in a post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia with a small plot of land for rice cultivation. Life is hard with seven daughters to feed and unfavourable weather. He inherited a small piece of land after his father had sold part of it to a Chinaman after being hit by poor yields. Now he is stuck with 14 tiny plots and seven daughters (another liability).

His wife Om and his eldest daughter, Sakha are his helping hands.

Tragedy befalls the poor family. Pouev steps on a thorn gets a nasty infection and succumbs to the injury. Om has to shoulder the responsibility of the family now.

If ploughing the land is not laborious enough, under the gruelling elements of heat and humidity of the sun, one has to ensure that seeding has to be done when it rains. Too much rain will drain the shoots, so the land cannot be too clogged. If that is not enough, crabs may invade the water filled padi fields. They have to be caught. Everything has to be done on a tight schedule. Too late and they would miss the harvest at the end. If dry season is what they are waiting for, they have another pest to keep at bay, the birds that would feed on the grains. Out came the scarecrows!

Even half through the planting of padi, Om crumbles under pressure. The pace of work proved too much. She missed her husband’s company. Slowly, she deteriorates. She gets drunk, started acting strangely and finally becomes uncontrollable. She has to be admitted to the mental asylum.

Sakha, the eldest daughter, takes over the rein of the family. She struggles through and manages to get a harvest from her crops. Om, even after her return from the hospital, remains a recluse and is living in her own world, devoid of all the strains and stresses of the real world.

One would never look at a bowl of rice the same way again after watching this movie. The amount of effort, dedication, love, joy, tears, sweat and life given to provide us our daily meal is heart wrenching. Nature is not making it a walk in the park. At every corner, there lurks danger - predators, pests, skin-putrefying organisms, too much of rain, too little of rain and the list goes on.