A Little Revolution - A Story of Suicides and Dreams, follows the remarkable journey of filmmaker Harpreet Kaur, who travels from the rural villages of Punjab to the capital of India with children of farmers, who've committed suicide. She confronts Sharad Pawar, the minister of agriculture, with the hope that he and his government will understand the effects of their policies and avail the opportunity to help these children.
Vast areas of rural India are currently facing a crisis that few outside of the subcontinent are aware is even occurring. Yet, whether or not the world watches, the crisis deepens. At the center of this emergency are the thousands of Indian peasant farmers who have taken their own lives. Like many other crises currently facing the world at this moment there is no one single, complete answer to the farmer suicides in India. However, the general consensus is that a farmer takes his own life due to high interest loans, taken to fulfill India's pro-industrial farming policies, and the ecological damage that has resulted.
This is a story of hope, empowerment and simple dreams. Director Harpreet Kaur, forces the audience to not limit the dialog to the economic, environmental or political side of the issue but to adjust the lens and focus on the plight of the farmer's children who are left behind carrying this burden. Kaur takes the viewers from the picturesque countryside of rural Punjab into the homes of these families. The children in these families have accepted their fate but aspire for an opportunity for a better future. Kaur, gives them the opportunity to share their stories with the world and confront the Government with their personal letters that offer a raw, humanistic and honest portrait of what impact their parents suicides have had in their lives.
To learn more about this film, visit ALittleRevolution.com.
To see a documentary from 2008 that describes the forces in play in Punjab that set the stage for this crisis, view Apana Punjab.