Operation Ganga was an evacuation of medical students and other citizens of India from Ukraine after Russia invaded in 2022. Over 18,000 students were assisted in leaving the country. As the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on and the world has seen the horrific effects of the conflict on the latter country, one would think a film about this rescue mission would be compelling. Sadly, it is not.
We see a group of medical students hunkered down in a cinderblock bunker as sounds of gunfire and shelling are heard above them. They sit against the walls and continually check their phones for service, which of course, is not available. However, they do not seem to be in any great distress for the most part. There are concerns about their loved ones not knowing their fate and their studies being disrupted. Hunger is momentarily relieved by the appearance of another group of refugees in the bunker who carry bags of snacks given to them by kind Ukrainian soldiers. No one seems in a panic or in anyway terrified, which one would think that at least a few would be considering the war that is being engaged in directly above them.
Instead, they stare blankly ahead as if waiting for their train home after a long, hard day at work. I’ve seen such looks at Penn Station in New York City at approximately 6pm in the evening. They briefly consider using their medical training to help the injured above them, but that idea is quickly abandoned as putting themselves at too much risk. This has the effect of muting any drama or tension in the film. Instead, we read more about the evacuation in text posted on the screen rather than seeing the human peril that unfolded. The Indian government organized an immense and impressively coordinated rescue of their people from Ukraine and this action deserves better than this rather flat film.
WATCH HERE: http://vimeo.com/user172134944/bunker password: Bunker2024
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