Gun Monkeys

India: Matri Bhumi - by Roberto Rossellini (1959)

The film consists of four episodes through which Roberto Rossellini’s impressions and feelings about India and its society emerge. The film opens with the story of an elephant driver getting married. This is followed by a labourer who has worked on the Irakud damn for seven years and who wants to leave the village; then there is an old peasant who saves a tiger’s life; finally, there is the story of the monkey which finds itself alone in the desert after its owner’s death.