Trinidad and Tobago / All works
Cinema
Bim
Hugh A. Robertson · 1974
Synopsis
In colonial Trinidad, the young Bim Singh sees his father, a union leader among the cane plantations, fall in a clan war. Sent to an aunt in Port of Spain, he is the only Indian at his school, mocked by his teacher and bullied by his Black classmates, and learns that he must defend himself. Grown up, he lives by theft, gambles, frequents a gambling den, and soon has to leave the city to escape the police.
Context
It was not the country's first feature film, shot four years earlier by Harbance Kumar, who co-produced this one, but it became a classic of Caribbean cinema. Raoul Pantin wrote the screenplay, perhaps inspired by an Indian political leader of the post-war period; Ralph Maraj, a future minister, plays the lead, and André Tanker composed the music. It has been compared to the Jamaican film by Perry Henzell released two years earlier.
Who it is for
A drama in English and Hindustani from Trinidad, for those who want to see the island's racial fractures on screen.
Prizes and reception
Jury gold medal at the Virgin Islands festival in 1975; Bruce Paddington sees it as one of the classics of Caribbean cinema.