MOVIE OF THE WEEK Nov 26, 2021: WRITING WITH FIRE

Marilyn Ferdinand Despite having the distinction of being the world’s largest democracy, India clings to its ancient traditions and illiberal ways to a truly shocking degree. The caste system is officially outlawed, yet it continues to govern human interactions at every level—from marriage, to employment, to housing. One group, the self-described Dalits, were considered so low that they were excluded from the caste system—and it is often the outsiders who can best critique the society in which they live. Writing with Fire chronicles the lives and activities of some intrepid Dalit women in India’s powerful Uttar Pradesh region who publish Khabar Lahariya (Waves of News). As with newspapers all over the world, these journalists are pivoting to online publishing to survive and tell the stories of rape, political corruption, and worker exploitation that most of the major media outlets don’t go near. Led by Meera, the managing editor, and ace reporter Suneeta, the staff learn journalism basics and reporting for electronic publication, gain in confidence, and find the courage to speak truth to power in a country that regularly murders its journalists. Watching the positive impact of their reporting on the lives of ordinary people is nothing short of breathtaking. Writing with Fire is one of the best movies of the year.

Leslie Combemale At the beginning, everyone said a newspaper run by women in the lowest caste would never work. Now KL has a staff of 29, hundreds of millions of hits on their YouTube channel, and has succeeded in a landscape that is still dominated by men. This is a story of women taking their destiny into their own hands, changing how the world sees them, how they see themselves, and literally changing the world at the same time. Writing with Fire shows them doing so, all while entertaining and educating its audience. Read full review.

Sherin Nicole “Being a journalist gives me the power to fight for justice.” Without a narrator or motion graphics but instead a thoughtfully observant focus, filmmakers Sushmit Ghosh & Rintu Thomas turn the narrative over to the journalists of the Khabar Lahariya, a woman run newspaper in Uttar Pradesh, where not only their stories but the stories of India are told. The news is meant to give voice to those who have gone unheard. Once called “untouchable” by the world, Meera, Suneeta and the other Dalit women are spreading a truth that is wildfire. Their bravery alone makes these journalists iconic. This quietly impactful documentary, Writing with Fire praises the impact of journalism, the act of speaking out, and its importance to those whom society has traditionally silenced.

Loren King Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s extraordinary documentary introduces us to a band of inspiring and intrepid Dalit women— a group on the lowest rung of India’s caste system — who against all odds and at great personal risk launched and maintain Khabar Lahariya, a newspaper that exposes injustice in remote India. Like this year’s A Thousand Cuts about journalist Maria Ressa’s fearless struggle to report government corruption in the Philippines, Writing With Fire is blazing evidence that a free press is the lifeblood of democracy.

Susan Wloszczyna: We are told early on in the documentary Writing With Fire that Uttar Pradesh, in north India, suffers from endemic levels of violence against women and Dalits – a group once known as “the untouchables” — that is so low in the existing caste system that they aren’t even part of it. But in 2002, a group of Dalit woman in the region decided to launch their own newspaper. They were expected to fail, but instead they created a revolution with an all-female staff that sought to improve their country by pressing authority figures to protect and serve their citizenry. Read full review.

Jennifer Merin Writing with Fire is a stirring documentary about the women journalists who report for, edit and publish the only women-run newspaper in India. They are Dalit women — members of India’s lowest caste, formerly known as ‘untouchables’ — and they are undeniably heroic in their investigative reportage, exposure of corruption, struggle to gain equal rights and justice for women and members of the Dalit community, and finding ways to keep publishing their singularly important and impactful newspaper. Kudos to filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh for introducing journalists Meera Devi, Shyamkali Devi and Suneeta Prajapati to us in this very compelling documentary about their lives, heroism and career struggles.

Sandie Angulo Chen: Writing with Fire is a powerful documentary about the courageous collective of 40 rural Dalit women journalists who run a newspaper that focuses on the injustices of gender and caste-discrimination (particularly against the “untouchables” like the staff). These brave, intelligent, hard-working women expose the deep-seated prejudice that still exists in India – to the point that crimes against the Dalit aren’t taken seriously when reported to local authorities. Filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh not only introduce audiences to various editors/reporters but also to the types of stories they investigate (like the lack of indoor plumbing in certain villages, the repeated gang rape of an older Dalit woman by men who go unpunished, or mine safety violations that led to death or injury). An amazing story that humbles and inspires.