Invisible Demons

Rahul Jain's 2021 documentary takes air pollution in Delhi as its subject. The camera follows the city season by season; smog, heat and water shortages are shown as different faces of the same problem. The documentary does not recite statistics. People waiting in traffic, hospital queues and images of foam on the river follow one another; rather than explain them, the narrative piles them up and draws its effect from repetition. Jain is speaking about his own city and narrates it himself. The cinematography is deliberately aestheticised, and the visual beauty of the pollution is one of the film's contested aspects. Who it's for: those who like environmental documentary and formally ambitious work. Who it's not for: viewers expecting solutions or policy proposals; the film shows the problem and looks for no way out.