Discussion guide.

The film in brief

In the remote hills of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Manle, a master craftsman of the plung, an ancient bamboo flute, learns that his young child has fallen ill. In the Mru tradition, only the gods can restore health through Chiasodpoi, a ceremonial dance and sacrificial offering. The film follows Manle as he prepares his community for the festival, crafts the sacred plung and leads rituals where performers from neighbouring villages meet in orchestral battles of music.

Key terms

• Mru The community’s name for themselves. It means “human”.
• Plung A bamboo flute central to Mru identity, spirituality and communal life. No two sound alike.
• Chiasodpoi The Festival of Sacrifice, held in times of hardship such as illness or epidemics, centred on the offering of a cow.
• Jhum Shifting cultivation, the traditional farming method of the hills.
• CHT The Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh, home to the Mru and other Indigenous peoples.
• Animism A belief that spirits are present in the natural world, central to the Mru’s ritual life.

Discussion questions

Story and character

1. The film is framed around a father trying to heal his child. How does this personal story change the way you experience the ritual?
2. What responsibilities does Manle carry, as a father, as a plung maker and as a leader of the festival? Where do they pull against each other?
3. Which moment stayed with you most, and why?

Music and the plung

4. The plung is described as both an instrument and a voice. What does it communicate in the film that words do not?
5. The “orchestral battles” between villages are celebratory, not hostile. How do they build community? Can you think of comparable traditions elsewhere?
6. Each plung is made for its player and no two sound alike. What does this say about how the Mru value individuality within a community?

Ritual and belief

7. Chiasodpoi is an exchange: sustenance offered to the spiritual realm for health and blessing. How does the film present the logic of that exchange?
8. How did you react to the sacrifice? How did your reaction change, if at all, as you understood more of its meaning?
9. What is the difference between describing a ritual from the outside and understanding it from the inside? Where does the film sit?

Language and identity

10. Much of the film is in the Mru language, which is at risk as younger generations shift to Bengali. Why does it matter that the film was made in Mru?
11. The Mru script was developed only in the 1980s. What is gained, and what might change, when an oral tradition is written down or filmed?
12. How do land loss, deforestation and modernisation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts shape what you see on screen, even when they are not shown directly?

Documentary form and ethics

13. The film began on mobile phones charged by solar power. How do the conditions of production show up in the film, and does it matter?
14. The film departs from conventional documentary structure. How is the story ordered and narrated? What does that choice do for the viewer?
15. The production worked with a Mru cultural guide and language bridge throughout. What does consent-forward filmmaking look like in practice? What would filming a community without that look like?
16. Who is this film for: the Mru, Bangladeshi audiences, international viewers? Can it serve all of them?

Assignment ideas

• Response paper (800 to 1,200 words). Choose one scene and analyse how sound, image and editing convey its spiritual meaning.
• Film review. Write a review for a general audience that explains the ritual respectfully without spoiling the film’s structure.
• Comparative essay. Compare Mrucha Chiasodpoi with another ethnographic film. How does each handle the relationship between filmmaker and community?
• Sound study. For ethnomusicology or sound courses: describe the plung’s role across the film, and how the sound design supports or stands back from it.
• Heritage brief. Research one threat to Mru heritage (language, land, livelihood) and propose a way documentation could help, and its limits.