An Insignificant Man literally had me on the edge of my seat.

No kidding. I almost fell off.

Ant
Ant
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

I watched An Insignificant Man with a mate of mine from India, and afterwards he remarked “one thing you can say about politics in India, it’s never boring”. Which is perhaps the understatement of the year. This documentary is an intense political thriller and makes the politics we see in other countries look like quiet boardroom chats.

An Insignificant Man tells the remarkable story of Arvind Kejriwal, founder of the Aam Aadmi Party (roughly “The Common Man’s Party”). For years, politics were run by a party called Congress, with the only other real competition for power being the BJP. There have been widespread accusations of corruption, and the people of India felt like all of the wealth of the country was being sent to the top. But there was no real option — it would be like imagining another party running things in the United States that wasn’t Republican or Democrat.

Enter Kejriwal and the AAP in 2012. Kejriwal isn’t part of the political elite. He speaks for the common man. The AAP’s main objectives are to shatter the corruption higher level politics, and get the coffers of wealth back into the hands of the people. We follow Kejriwal and the rest of the AAP party as they become more than just a thorn in the side of the corporations and political elite — they become a genuine contender for the majority government in India, and come closer and closer to winning the 2013 election.

Kejriwal being Kejriwal.

It’s a remarkable feat. Going into this election, the Indian National Congress party had run India for 49 years (oof, didn’t quite hit that 50). As mentioned, it would be like if an independent politician and their party became a serious contender for presidency in the United States. Or if some other new party unseated Labour and National in New Zealand as the majority party.

The film does a good job of showing both the good and the bad sides of the AAP and Kejriwal. Early on, Kejriwal promises that volunteers will be allowed to vote for and appoint their own representatives in the different districts of Delhi. But then later we cut to a heated meeting, called after Kejriwal had vetoed a few representatives. “Didn’t you promise that we could appoint who we wanted? That’s what the party is all about, that’s democracy!” says one side. “But I need to have final approval”, says Kejriwal, in an aggressive fashion. Both have their points. Frankly, Kejriwal shouldn’t have promised absolute democracy within the party in the first place.

More broadly, An Insignificant Man shows exactly what kind of environment the AAP must survive in. It pulls off a similar feat to , another documentary I watched a few days ago. As someone with only a cursory interest in the respective films’ subjects going in, both spend just the right amount of time getting the audience clued up, then making them care.

Which makes things devastating when the AAP faces setback after setback. The most affecting moment is the death of Santosh Koli, a 28-year old fiery member of the AAP whose main cause is simply good, affordable food for the people. She’s struck down on her bike by a hit-and-run — fowl play is suspected. This is the only moment we really see Kejriwal break in front of a crowd.

The filmmakers, Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, were supposed to talk about the film prior to the New Zealand International Film Festival screening. But they weren’t able to make it, apparently due to political issues back in India. The Censor Board of India has also temporarily silenced it. If that isn’t reason enough to watch An Insignificant Man, I don’t know what is.

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

Ant

Written by

Ant

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

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