The Scene of Crime is a complex, poetic documentation of the disappearing landscape of Odisha. Kanwar’s film vividly humanises an issue that is so often perceived to be a statistic; mere ink on paper.
Through purposeful cropping, Kanwar brings the viewer into intimate scenes of the landscape. The abundance of close-up shots offers a new perspective of seeing – forcing one to look, truly look and scrutinise what is referred to as the ‘evidence’ of the crime, rather than glossing over it in a wider shot.
The camera is almost always stationary. What is captured are subtle movements of the landscape – blades of grass trembling in the wind, the vibrations of a branch as a butterfly departs from it – nature subject to nature. These subtle movements are furthermore enhanced by the stillness of the landscape. In each shot, there is always a stationary element that contrasts the aforementioned subtle movements. For instance, the trembling of grass blades against the stillness of the ground, or the shivering of leaves against a strong, sturdy branch. The stationary does not take away from the movement, but in fact, enhances it.
Another well-executed aspect of the film is its pacing, which is closely tied to the sounds included in the piece. From Map 1-5, there is a clear build up of intensity. Kanwar makes use of natural sounds like omnipresent wind, violent rustling of leaves and distant thunder to complement the visuals, adding multi-sensorial layers to the already immersive piece. Furthermore, it appears that the audio has a symbolic presence. The sounds of nature accompanying each shot are almost like cries of anguish as if nature itself was calling out in pain as it struggles against its imminent extinction. This is made more poignant by the stark diminuendo following Map 5, where the sounds noticeably dim from the piece, evoking an eerie defeat, an almost certain ‘death’ of the forest.
Beyond mere visual-auditory stimuli, Kanwar engages the audience intellectually through thought-provoking captions.
“She searches for him, sometimes amongst the dead, sometimes amongst the living.”
The use of he/she personification elements invites the viewer to ponder about the identities referred to in the caption – after all, there is no distinct human-to-human dialogue or narrative in this film. One then considers the involvement of third party stakeholders. Who are the ‘bad guys’ that are destroying the landscape? Who are affected by these changes? Is there anyone doing anything about it all? The incongruency of the relationship between each text and its accompanying visual allows the viewer to work things out for himself, rather than have the story be told to him directly.
Going back to an earlier point, what really stood out to me in the whole piece was Kanwar’s effective use of a contrasting element to bring out and enhance another element that is its polar – using stillness to bring about movement. This purposeful juxtaposition is not only symbolically significant, it is also quite visually stunning. It is on this note that I wish to explore similar visual themes in my third assignment. Perhaps I will stretch the concept of visual juxtaposition into other realms – darkness & light, fast & slow etc.