Film Summary: City of Joy, a film by Roland Joffe

Summary: City of Joy, 1991

Director: Roland Joffe

Resources for Teaching Film

SEQUENCE ONE * * * * * * * * * *

1. 1:00 Operating room scene. Dr. Max Lowe operating on a young girl. She dies, despite all of his attempts to revive her. In his father's office, Max informs him that he is resigning. 2. 4:28 India at sunset. A small family moves across the landscape. Titles up. XX Pal, his wife Kamla, and his family leave on a bus for Calcutta. 7:25 Arrival in Calcutta. A huge highway bridge across the Ganghes River dominates the scene. Crowded railway station scene. The Pal family are temporarily separated in the bustling crowd. The family make their way through the crowds and traffic. 3. 10:00 The family at the river's edge at dusk. Hasari talks to his son. The next day Hasari tries to find work. No luck. Everywhere there are crowds. 4. 12:05 A man comes along who is friendly to Hasari. He says he is from Bihar, the same as the Pals. He invites them to stay at his compound. He shows them fine rooms and obtains the rent in cash from Hasari. There is even running water in the courtyard. He says the Pals can stay there for a month. He leaves them.

SEQUENCE TWO * * * * * * * * * * 5. 14:00 Max Lowe in the midst of the city crowds. He does a magic trick for one of the kids, and then is surrounded by others. He is staying at the Green Acres hotel. He checks in. He realizes he has left his passport at an ashram (a religious community where he had been staying to find "peace of mind." In his room he tosses all of his religious books from the ashram in the trash. 6. 16:30 Hasari and the family enjoy their apartment. Suddenly the real owner of the apartment shows up and throws them out. 7. 18:05 Max in the bath in his room. The hotel worker has brought him a prostitute. Her name is Poomina. 8. 19:52 The Pal family sleeps in an alley. Hasari can't sleep. He sits up with his wife Kamla. They talk quietly. 21:18 In a bar Max and Poomina are getting drunk--or at least she is getting him drunk. In the background Ashoka, a local thug is watching Poomina, who obviously is his associate. She tricks Max into having a drinking contest. Then outside the bar he is attacked by thugs. Hasari wakes up at the noise. "Someone needs help," he says. He yells for help and the thugs run away. Poomina comes back.

SEQUENCE THREE * * * * * * * * * * 9. 24:30 Max wakes up under the care of a woman. She looks down at him: "Wake up, Junior. Welcome to India. You're in the City of Joy." "I came to find enlightenment," he tells her. And he hasn't found it. He steps outside. Everywhere there is squalor and overcrowding. The woman is Joan Bethel, a nurse who works in a local clinic. She is a stout woman with an Irish accent. He tells her he was a doctor. "Don't try to recruit me. I'm a non-practicing doctor. I don't like sick people." He says goodbye. She gives him the money to be carried away in a rickshaw by a man named Ram. Hasari follows him. Max doesn't ride in the rickshaw, but the driver, Ram, follows behind them. On the way Hasari asks if he could get a job pulling a rickshaw. Max has Hasari pull the vehicle, and the driver runs behind them. Shots of Hasari racing along. He says goodbye at the hotel. The rickshaw driver takes Hasari with him. 10. 30:10 At the compound where the Godfather, Ghatak, lives and works. Ashoka taunts Hasari, but then the Godfather comes out and carries on an interview. He gives Hasari the bells that go with a rickshaw. Hasari has a job. "Stay loyal," Ghatak says. 33:00 Ram, the rickshaw driver, takes Hasari's family to their new home in the slums of the City of Joy. Hasari thanks Ram for helping him out. Hasari and Amrita are overjoyed. "A job, a roof. Soon I'll be able to send money home. And save money for my daughter's dowry." 11. 35:19 Hasari practicing pulling his rickshaw in the compound. Then we see him get his first rider--a schoolgirl.

SEQUENCE FOUR * * * * * * * * * * 12. 36:42 Max at a restaurant. He spots Ashoka sitting on the motorcycle. We can see Max's gold chain around the man's neck. Max gives chase, but he can't catch the motorcycle. Ashoka waves to a cop (who is obviously on the payroll of the local Mafia). Out of nowhere Joan Bethel steps forward and gets him out of trouble. 13. Joan sews up the cut on his wrist in her compound. "Are you just nuts or are you doing penance for some major past sin?" She doesn't appreciate his cynicism. "What do you believe in?" she asks. He makes a smart-aleck answer. Outside on the porch she tells him there are only three choices to life: "to run, to spectate, to commit." He doesn't buy it. 14. 41:20 Hasari at work. He picks up his regular rider, the student. Back at the compound everyone celebrates that Hasari has a regular customer. "It's been a lucky day," Hasari says. He has brought a cup home for Amrita's dowry. Hasari's two boys ask Max if he will take them to a movie. He says yes. A peaceful night scene as Max watches the people talk. Hasari explains the importance of a dowry to a Hindu father. "It's our duty, an honor."

SEQUENCE FIVE * * * * * * * * * * 15. 45:00 A strange man comes up with a cloak over him. Suddenly he drops a small man to the ground. The man is Anouar, who suffers from Hanson's Disease (known as leprosy), whose legs have been amputated. Anouar's wife, Meeta, is pregnant, but she is having difficulty giving birth. Max is stuck. Joan doesn't know what to do, and Max goes along after requesting as much equipment as they have available. They arrive at the leper colony. Hasari's wife, Kamla, assists Max in the delivery. Meeta's hand is mostly a stump, the result of the disease. The birth is difficult. Anouar and Hasari wait outside the hovel. Kamla holds Meeta's hand. She isn't afraid of "catching" the disease. Suddenly Max's passion comes back and he works to save the baby along with Kamla's and Joan's help. Anouar comes in. "It's a boy, Daddy," Max says. 49:59 Walking back to the compound, Max praises Kamla for her good work. "You should be a nurse." Joan pleads with him to stay. They argue. Hasari comes up. "I think you have a good heart." Kamla thanks him. Max bolts and runs away. 16. 52:29 Max back at the hotel. He is on the phone trying to have cash wired to him. The hotel manager asks him to turn over his plane ticket--just a little insurance until the bill is paid. 17. 53:55 Argument at the City of Joy. Some people with Hansen's Disease have come to be treated, but some of the locals are afraid of contagion--which is an unfounded fear. Anouar shows up (carried in the arms of a friend), and asks Joan to order medication for them. Suddenly Max shows up in the slum and Joan runs up and hugs him. He tells her he will stay nine weeks. Joan asks, "What made you change your mind?" "I had a religious experience," he teases. Then Max asks Kamla to be his assistant. "God save me from knights in shining armor!" Joan yells. 18. 56:50 Hasari hard at work. He picks up his schoolgirl and her mother, who informs Hasari that her daughter is getting married soon. After they go inside, Hasari stands on the sidewalk and admires the goods inside.

SEQUENCE SIX * * * * * * * * * * 19. 0:00 Max at work in the clinic. He examines Meeta's baby. Anouar's wife and Poomina, who happens to be the wife's sister stand by. Max learns that Poomina's mother is selling part of her formula (milk for her new baby) for rent money, since Poomina, her daughter, has returned to school. He tries to mediate their situation. 20. 1:30 Hasari at work. He carries a heavy man in his rickshaw. Back at the compound Hasari is exhausted. Max and Kamla return from visiting patients at the leper colony. Joan gets a note from the Godfather. 21. 3:07 Joan and Max arrive at the Godfather's compound. Ghatak requires more protection money from the clinic. Ghatak lectures Max about his values. They go into his office. Ashoka comes out and sees Max sitting in front of Ghatak. "Bask in the light of my strength," Ghatak says. Then he demonstrates his power by forcing a chicken to lie still on his desk. Then he offers Max and Joan sweets. "Don't offer me candy," Max says. He slaps the tray out of Ghatak's hand. All hell breaks loose, but the Godfather waves away his thugs. Joan and Max leave. 22. 6:45 Back at the City of Joy. Everyone is gathered for a meeting. The agenda: how to break the Godfather's hold on them. No one trusts Max's aggressive stance--after all, what does he have to lose? Hasari reminds them he has promised Ghatak his loyalty. "You're acting like sheep!" Max says. Then Kamla speaks. "We must choose. Max is only trying to help all of us. I would like to stand up." One of the men says he could rent a property to the clinic. 9:10 Anouar arrives at the new site of the clinic. Montage shows the people organizing the site. 23. 10:04 Ashoka is frustrated that the clinic is trying to get around paying rent. His father isn't worried. He thinks that when the lepers are allowed to move in, then they will "cut off the branch." Then Ghatak muses to his assistant, "When I'm gone, who will you be loyal to?" 24. 11:30 Ashoka and another thug, on the motorbike, cuts off Hasari one day. He reminds Hasari of his pledge of "loyalty." 12:09 Night scene in the Pal family's room. Hasari is afraid of losing his job. Kamla reminds him that Max helped him before. They embrace. 25. 13:35 Work continues on the new clinic. Then the opening of the clinic. Joan is ecstatic. People dance in the courtyard. 26. 14:58 Hasari picks up his children, where they are working at a metal foundry. He notices one of the young workers admiring his daughter, Amrita. Thoughts of "this young man may make a good husband for my daughter!" Hasari seems to be coughing here and then.

SEQUENCE SEVEN * * * * * * * * * * 27. 15:45 Max at his hotel. His money has arrived, and so has news of a new job. Anouar and his wife arrive, pulled in Hasari's rickshaw. "There goes the neighborhood," Max says. Max runs alongside the rickshaw as they return to the City of Joy. 28. 16:38 City scenes. Poomina, daughter of Anouar and Meeta, is accosted by Ashoka and other thugs. Of course, Ashoka is angry that she has stopped working for them. Ashoka puts a double edged razor blade in her mouth and rips apart her lips. 29. 18:06 Max, Hasari, Anouar, and Meeta arrive at the clinic. A protest is in progress against the treatment of lepers at the clinic. Max tries to stop the violence. But fighting breaks out. Some of the Godfather's thugs trash the clinic. Suddenly Poomina runs up, her mouth bleeding from the razor cuts. Max carries her inside. The violence continues. Anouar is burned by a firebomb. Joan sees Ashoka watching from a balcony across the street. Joan walks down the street and yells at Ashoka. "We'll pay!" she screams. Ashoka calls off the thugs, then orders Hasari to see him the next day. 21:34 Max sews up Poomina's face. "I hate this place!" he says over and over as he sews. 30. 22:11 The next day Hasari visits Ashoka, who tells him that his rickshaw will be taken away. Hasari tries to call for Ghatak, but Ashoka informs him that his father is ill and that he is making all the decisions. Hasari returns to the City of Joy. 31. 23:50 Max in Joan's room. He is ranting about his miserable fate. "I am not magic Max! It's too goddamn painful!" She argues with him. "What do you say, Joan?" "I'm here because I want to be here. Maybe the world is meant to break your heart. From the moment we're born, we're shipwrecked, struggling between hope and despair, all of us." Max laughs at this "wisdom," but then sits on the bed and cries. She goes over to him, embraces him, but he leaves. On the way out he sees Hasari, who says "They took away my rickshaw." "So what do you want to do about it? Get it back for you?" "I trusted you," Hasari says. "I guess that was your mistake," Max says. Hasari is drunk, angry, scared. He goes into his room and cries.

SEQUENCE EIGHT * * * * * * * * * * 32. 27:20 Hasari selling blood to pay for food. He limps along the street. When he returns to his room, Max is there with Kamla. Max tries to persuade Hasari to let Kamla continue to work at the clinic. But Hasari can't listen to anyone else right now. 33. 29:46 Max visiting the leper colony. Anouar, carried in the arms of a friend, takes Max to a hiding place--where a broken down rickshaw has been stashed. Voila! The rickshaw is meant for Hasari. Max is overjoyed. 34. 30:40 Max shows off the broken down rickshaw, which he has moved to the City of Joy. Max has it all figured out: Hasari and he will fix up the rickshaw, the cops can be bribed, and Hasari can work outside the Godfather's territory. "You don't understand," Hasari says. "You're a white man. You're different. You think you can buy people's hearts by giving them things! For me trust is in the heart. That is something that cannot be purchased." At
this Max explodes. (Why is he so upset by reference to buying people withthings?) They argue heatedly. Max reminds him that he should be angry at the people who are using him. He storms out. 35. 33:20 Max removes the stitches from Poomina's face. He lays down the rules--she'll live in the City of Joy and stay away from the Godfather's thugs. She thanks him for helping her. Max looks out the window and notices that activity is going on behind closed doors: Hasari is at work on the rickshaw. 36. 34:13 Max sneaks into the room and finds Hasari hard at work on rehabilitating the rickshaw. But when Max starts to help Hasari lift the body of the vehicle, Hasari yells, "Let me do it!" Max steps back. Hasari is coughing too much. Finally he coughs so hard he spits up blood. Max urges him to admit the seriousness of tuberculosis--and that Hasari must take the medication. "Not everything I do is wrong." Max leaves, but not before reminding the kids he is taking them to a movie tonight. 37. 36:26 After the movie, Max and the kids are on the street. One of the boys says, "I wish my father was as much fun as you." But Max says, "Don't ever say that. I wish my Daddy loved me half as much as yours loves you. He's a special man." They resume play. Suddenly a truck bears down upon them and Max and the boys have to run for their lives. Max grabs one of them at the last minute. 37:34 Back at the compound. Max tries to comfort Kamla and Hasari. He leaves. Hasari seems somber, lost in thought.

SEQUENCE NINE * * * * * * * * * * 38. The next day Hasari is painting the rickshaw and talking to friends. He says he will talk to Ghatak, the Godfather, when the latter is alone. He trusts Ghatak. "He's not like his son. He came to the city with a little bundle." Suddenly they notice an uproar outside. Hasari says, "They could have killed my little son yesterday." 39. 38:59 Source of the uproar. An ambulance is carrying away the body of the Godfather, who is dying. A friend tells Hasari the son is raising the rent. "If the old man is dying, we have to face the son," Hasari declares. He joins the crowd, which is angrily denouncing the new higher prices Ashoka plans to charge. Hasari listens in the crowd, but his face shows rising anger and determination. Hasari charges the porch and tries to grab the microphone away from Ashoka. "They tried to kill my son!" he screams, as Ashoka's thugs subdue him. A police van pulls up. Then we see Hasari being taken away inside the police van. 40. 41:17 Hasari is on the witness stand in the court. He tells the judge that he is happy to carry people to and fro, but that rickshaw drivers like him deserve respect. The judge decides in favor of Hasari. She orders a restraining order against Ashoka, but she fines Hasari 50 rupees. He doesn't have the money, but in no time his fellow drivers hand him rupee notes so that he can pay his fine. Max, seated in the court, beams with pride. Ashoka looks malicious and walks out.

SEQUENCE TEN * * * * * * * * * * 41. 42:50 The monsoons arrive. Everyone dances around in the street to celebrate the arrival of the cooling rains. Hasari leaves for work, but he notices that a young man, Subash, is watching his daughter Amrita from the courtyard. Subash runs with Hasari and answers questions about his background. Hasari seems pleased with the young man. 42. 44:39 Max asleep in his hotel room. Ashoka and his thugs sneak into his room and beat him. "Go home, doctor!" Ashoka warns. 45:47 Max walks through the rains at night and returns to the City of Joy. He pounds on the gate of the clinic compound. "Ashoka ordered me to go home. So here I am." Inside the room set up for him, Joan notices a picture of a little girl. He tells her she is a girl he couldn't save. "The last straw." She tells him a story about a man who held onto his grief for thirteen years. He gets the point. He kisses her. "Welcome home, Junior," she says. 43. 47:44 Hasari being interviewed by Subash's father, who is the owner of a workshop. The father says, "What can he possibly offer?" A friend tells the father this is a "love match" and encourages him to be open to some negotiations. Scenes of Hasari working in the monsoon. Of course, the rickshaw pullers make more money during the rainy season. The streets are all flooded. Hasari works hard and at one point holds a bag of rupee notes up to his forehead and muses, "What can he possibly offer?" Hasari stops at a shop where fine clothes are sold for women's dowries. This is the same shop his first passenger, a young woman, bought clothes for her dowry. 44. 50:35 The rains continue. Max sandbags around the clinic. Then to a night scene in the slums where the lepers reside. Anouar, Meeta, and their baby are on the roof of one of the shacks. Hasari, Max and others from the City of Joy arrive to help. The entire compound is flooded. One by one the families are taken off the roofs. Anouar is the last to go. Max tries to rescue him, but a tree falls on the house and Max goes down. Hasari rescues Max.

SEQUENCE ELEVEN * * * * * * * * * * 45. 000 Max wakes up back at the City of Joy. Max opens his eyes and sees everyone standing at his bedside. Hasari comes over to him. Max is delirious. 1500 Joan sits at his bedside after everyone leaves. He tells her a story about being bribed by his father (with candy) when he was a child. He is trying to explain to her why he exploded at the Godfather's that time the old man offered them candy. His grief is his guilt over the betrayal of his mother. She died before he could resolve that betrayal. "After that, I just shut down." 4200 Joan understands. Then they share a tender laugh. 46. 5200 Argument between Subash's father and Hasari. The father complains that Hasari has no gold. "My only ornament is my daughter," Hasari tells him. 47. 5800 Joan and Max at the compound. One of the men tells Max that all that separates the two parties is one ounce of gold. The negotiations have gone on for hours. Afterwards, Max joins Hasari and his family as they return from the negotiations. They are ambushed by Ashoka's thugs. Ashoka orders Max to leave the country. "I hate interfering foreigners who think they're better than me." 8300 Then Ashoka turns his attention to Kamla, Hasari's daughter. Max warns him not to hurt her. "They're my family," he tells Ashoka. A look goes between Hasari and Max. Max tries to stop Ashoka from hurting Amrita, but two thugs knock him down. 9900 Then Hasari attacks Ashoka. One of the thugs stops the others from assisting Ashoka, who eems to have gone out of control. Hasari knocks Ashoka down, pummels him, and seems to be about ready to kill him. But Hasari looks toward his family and sees the look of horror in their eyes. He stands up, tells Ashoka, "No more feet on our necks." 11500 The other thugs leave. One of Hasari's sons sees the gold chain that was around Ashoka's neck on the ground. He picks it up. Then Max realizes Hasari has been stabbed. They help him into the rickshaw.

SEQUENCE TWELVE * * * * * * * * * * 48. 12400 At night in the compound. Hasari is in bed, and Max and the other doctor separate. "We'll make a good team," Max says. Then Max sits with the two boys while his father lies in bed. As he talks, we see Hasari wake up. He reaches out and touches his wife's arm. Hasari says, "For a long time I wanted you to leave. You made me feel things I have never felt before. I'm glad you came to my country." 15300 Outside the window the other rickshaw pullers are celebrating Hasari's recovery by chiming their rickshaw bells. Hasari muses, "If the journey isn't' what you expect, don't be surprised. My father said that before we left the village." 16800 One of Hasari's sons asks Max if his father needs gold. He pulls out Max's medallion, which Ashoka had stolen. "Now your sister can get married . . . all because of you," Max says. 49. 17800 Hasari is up and around. He picks a flower from the pot he planted when he first came to the compound. Preparations for the wedding are complete. Amrita is dressed in a beautiful gold sari. Hasari gives her the flower. He tells her how much he loves her. 50. 19700 The wedding procession. All is ready that evening. Hasari invites Max to set next to his father and bless the bride. Amrita sits next to the groom. 22000 Aspects of a Hindu wedding ritual. Hasari looks on proudly. 51. 23000 Joan comes over to Max. She is dressed in a red sari. He tells her how happy he is to be here. "I never felt more alive." She says, "Now you're free to go." "Now I'm free to stay." They kiss. 52. 24400 Hasari calls him over. He shows Max that he is bleeding badly from the wound. But he wants Max to help him leave the scene so that the bride and groom can enjoy their day without interruption. "Is it bad?" Hasari asks. "It's not fatal if I can keep you in bed for five minutes." They walk off down the street. "The gods haven't made it easy to be a human being," he says. Max agrees. "That's why it feels so goddamn wonderful to beat the odds." Extreme long shot of the City of Joy and the bridge across the Ganghes in the distance. 28200 Graphic on the screen: All that is not given is lost--Hasari Pal. Credits up.

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.