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NAFF 2010 | Iron Crows
By Genie MacLeod
Iron Crows
South Korea, 2009, 60min
DIR: Bong-Nam Park
There is almost no music in Korean director Bong-Nam Park's documentary Iron Crows. Instead, a shrieking cacophony of blow-torches and tearing metal - all part of a day's work at PHP ship breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh - provides the soundtrack to both the film, and the lives of the workers. This harsh and austere soundscape is broken up periodically by the rhythmic chanting of the ship breakers as they co-ordinate their movements to heave an iron plate or drive a pole into the muddy shore, a fitting metaphor for the strength of the workers' bond to each other despite the awful conditions in which they live and work.
Bangladesh is responsible for dismantling about 45% of the world's retired ships, and this industry provides 80% of domestic metal needs in Bangladesh. The fruits of this labour are vital to Bangladesh's economy, and provide a somewhat environmentally-conscious method of disposing of old ships, as all parts of the ships are sold or recycled in some way. The costs to the workers, however, seem to outweigh the benefits. Ship breakers at PHP are constantly exposed to open flames, asbestos, and the ever-present possibilities of an accidental explosion, or being crushed by falling metal. As one of the workers explains to the camera, "eight hours work means eight hours danger" - the workers only recently started wearing helmets on site.
Ship Breaking No. 4, Edward Burtynsky, 2000
The film's title is a reference to the crows that populate the ship yard. The workers call these birds roha kak, or "iron crows", because, in the barren and polluted environment of the yard, all that the birds have to build their nests are scraps of metal. Like the birds, the workers of PHP must build their lives around the hulking masses of iron that wash up on their shores.
The film leaves many questions about life at PHP and the ship breaking industry unanswered. There is no explanation of how ships arrive at the shipyard, or how the metal is distributed and reused after breaking, and Park never allows us to glimpse the inner workings of PHP despite pointing at flaws within the system such as child labour, horrific working conditions, and unreliable payment schemes. Nonetheless, Iron Crows is an important film because takes an empathetic view of the world's cast-offs, both mechanical and human.
In Bengali and Korean with English subtitles.
Preceded by Tawallis: Sailing Towards an Elusive Harvest.
Screening: Saturday May 28th, 4:30 p.m.
"Schema Magazine's coverage of NAFF 2010 is sponsored by the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival"
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May 27, 2010 at 12:52 PM
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