The documentary “Children of God” kicks off and soon makes a startling statement in a child’s voice. The child tells the man behind the camera and the audience that he is 12 years old and will die at 13 next year. This should not be interpreted as a call for help, an offer to get out of the current situation, or even some sort of doomsday prophecy. It is said to be a statement of twisted hopes for the near future of one of Nepal’s “dirty boys”.
The truth is, the struggles and stories told in this documentary happen to all of us, but maybe not. We all go through loss, change, struggle, and to some degree, we all get to choose how we handle things and whether we deserve another day or not. For Alesh Poudel, a young boy who has not yet reached puberty but lives with responsibilities that many adults cannot, life and death are almost simultaneous events.
He lived in a not-so-quiet corner of the Ganges crematorium, the river believed to lead straight to heaven and the gods, and he swam and bathed in the ashes of the dead who, having left their families, asked to be buried there if they continued Moving forward, he has survived many of what these people have experienced.
Quick-witted, Poudel apparently acquired a unique wit about his everyday life, filled with family squabbles and financial hardships, but seemed unaware of the strange parallels in his life, the way his lack of worldly experience included his abstract but tangible thoughts about home, heaven, and what could really happen outside the only country he knew, and the ironic tropes he proudly and unwittingly made in moments of peace; his four-year-old sister as pure as the waters of the Ganges.
Family and community relationships in Nepali society are also explored in Children of God, and while you’ll be left with some questions, it’s not for lack of effective storytelling or direction. There are moments in the movie without subtitles. Maybe for legal reasons or out of respect for the person being photographed, but this absence (not necessarily the source of your problem) might catch you off guard as an English viewer.
