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The Great Abandonment

Name: The Great Abandonment
Director: Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya
Released: 2021
Duration: 30 min

Representation Score

8.5/10

Excellent

2021

Director

Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya

Runtime

30 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The documentary serves as a powerful disruption of nationalistic storytelling. By focusing on the 11 million migrant workers forced to flee cities, it reframes the COVID-19 lockdown as a crisis of class rather than a shared biological struggle. Its primary strength lies in the centering of underrepresented voices that are often invisible in mainstream political discourse. The film effectively challenges the morality of centralized authority by highlighting how state-mandated sacrifices disproportionately burden the impoverished. While the film excels in racial and ethnic representation, it remains neutral or unconfirmed regarding specific LGBTQ+ and disability-focused narratives. The focus remains firmly on the structural inequities of labor and systemic poverty.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Great Abandonment have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film focuses on the socio-economic challenges faced by migrant laborers. There is no direct mention of LGBTQ+ identities in the narrative.

How does The Great Abandonment portray gender?

Fair

The documentary explores the gendered experiences of labor among the poorest populations. It highlights how the pandemic disrupts traditional hierarchies for those in precarious roles.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Great Abandonment?

Excellent

The film provides exceptional representation by centering 11 million migrant workers. It emphasizes the ethnic and caste-based realities of the laboring class.

How does The Great Abandonment represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative challenges centralized governance by focusing on the lived realities of the disenfranchised. It critiques the concept of 'collective sacrifice' through a lens of systemic failure.

Does The Great Abandonment include disability representation?

Fair

There is no specific mention of physical or neurodivergent disabilities. However, the film addresses the systemic impairments caused by chronic malnutrition and manual labor.

Present on Screen

Exceptional focus on the ethnic and caste-based realities of India's migrant labor class.
Effective disruption of dominant political narratives through a lens of systemic critique.
Provides a platform for underrepresented populations often sidelined by mainstream media.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit evidence regarding the representation of LGBTQ+ identities.
Limited detail regarding the specific depiction of physical or neurodivergent disabilities.
The narrative structure prioritizes class and labor over individual character arcs.

Official Synopsis

Is it better to suffer the consequences of a lockdown or of Covid-19? That’s the harsh choice facing 11 million migrant workers in India when they have to leave their workplaces in the cities without warning. The country’s prime minister Narendra Modi sees a lockdown for India’s 1.3 billion inhabitants as a collective sacrifice that’s necessary to combat the spread of the virus, but his call to suffering only serves to outsource the miseries of the pandemic to the poorest of the poor.

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