Would you be surprised to find out that slavery still exists around the world? Probably not.
Would you be surprised to find out that more people (over 27 million) are enslaved now than at any other time in world history? I certainly was.
Nominated for an Academy Award, the live-action short film Kavi shines a light on the dark issue of modern slavery.
According to statistics, over 27 million people are still enslaved around the world, many of them in “bonded labor,” where their work is payment on a debt that will never be paid off. Kavi, the Oscar-nominated short from director Gregg Helvey, tells the story of a young Indian boy, Kavi, and his parents, all trapped in a world of bonded labor. Kavi’s parents accept their situation and seem to have only a small amount of hope for the future. But Kavi wants to be like the Indian boys he sees from the brickworks. He wants to play cricket and go to school, leaving the brickworks behind. Daydreaming about cricket leads to a harsh rebuke from his “boss,” which in turns leads to an encounter with two shadowy men outside the camp. Who are they? Do they work for the “boss?” Or could they be his way out?
Director Helvey, a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, brings an authenticity to the story that gives Kavi its impact. According to Helvey, he spent a month scouting different locations in India, even meeting some child laborers in the process. The film was even shot at an abaondoned brickworks outside of Mumbai. To be honest, I was surprised to see that Helvey had written and directed Kavi. It feels so informed and detailed, I was sure it had to have been made by a native Indian.
Beautifully shot, perfectly paced and with a powerful performance from Sagar Salunke (as Kavi), this film is completely engrossing from start to finish, no small feat given the film’s running time of 19 minutes. In fact, where many shorts feel more like extended scenes or half-concepted character studies, Kavi plays as a story told in full, with Helvey and his cast doing their part as master storytellers.
If the film has a weakness, it would be in the fact that Kavi’s story likely has a much sunnier ending than reality usually allows. Whether in coffee fincas, cocoa plantations or forced into the sex industry, slaves like Kavi rarely find a way out of their circumstance. Yes, there are groups working to expose and close theses labor camps, but authorities are often in bed with those who enslave, making progress difficult if not impossible. In Kavi’s case at least, his strength, hope and optimism remain intact, which allows the film to close with a tone that captures that positivity.
If it does nothing else, Helvey’s powerful film will raise awareness of the issue of modern slavery around the world. But Kavi does more than that, in giving us an opportunity to see life and its struggles through a younger, and more hopeful, pair of eyes.
