Educational Media Reviews Online

Turbans, a short film based on the memoirs of Katar Dhillon, the filmmaker’s grandmother, is set in Astoria, Oregon in 1918. The adult Singhs are from India, but Katar and her two brothers were born in California. The family, one of the first from India to settle in the West Coast, moves to Oregon when Kartar’s father gets a job as a worker at Harman Mills.

From its opening scenes, the film depicts issues of identity faced by immigrant families torn between two worlds. The struggle of the parents to sustain and to pass on to their children their culture and values is most painful for Katar and her brothers, as their schoolmates taunt them as “ragheads” for wearing turbans. When, after the American children throw stones at them, the children’s mother confronts the school principal, he shrugs, “I can’t control people’s reactions to Hindu children. Children will be children.” (Although the Singhs are Sikhs, back then all Indians are imagined to be Hindus.)

The children's torments force their parents to choose between the children quitting school or ending their adherence to the tenets of Sikhism. Should Mr. Singh have them remove their turbans and cut their hair? Their conflicted father convenes a meeting with his friends to help him in his final decision. In spite of his wife’s pleas to the contrary, he concedes to American norms, and asks God for forgiveness. He wants his children to flourish, not just to survive in his adopted nation.

As many had to contemplate removing their different-looking garb to avoid persecution after the events of September 11, this film strikes a chord in viewers of good faith. Turbans inspires dialogue on essential issues of pluralism. Should you embrace new ways when you emigrate to a different country? Should you speak only English in the classroom? Every religion preaches nonviolence, but should you fight back if others show intolerance? Are men more apt to shed their ethnic heritage than women?

Turbans is suitable for facilitating discussion and promoting understanding among high school students. The short length of the film and limited dialog also makes Turbans suitable for showing and facilitating conversation among adult ESL students.

This reviewer found the film too contrived and simplistic for adult audiences. Its monotonous sitar music depreciated the vitality of Indian culture. An alternative consideration may be Hester Street. Beautifully acted and with a nuanced plot, Hester Street offers a more satisfying understanding of immigrant issues through the experiences of Jewish immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York in 1896.

Awards:

• Golden Reel Award, L.A. Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival, 2000.
• Family Award, USA Film Festival, Dallas 2000.
• Silver Medal, Short Subject Film, Philadelphia International Film Festival, 2000.
• Silver Award, Worldfest –Houston International Film Festival, 2000.