Passivity in the face of corruption threatens to breed a lineage of immorality

This review is my opinion and contains spoilers.

“It seems this is your first time in Karachi.”

“Moor” is a well-produced 2015 Pakistani film directed by Jami and Jamshed Mahmood Razi. Its contemplative nature is attributed to its “arthouse” descriptor. The film provokes thought as to how the mysterious nature of the land affects those around them. Moor is prefaced with a description of how the deterioration of the railroads led to distress, and many forms of it are demonstrated through the narrative. In 2005, it was reported that the mafia had illegally “occupied 3400 acres of commercial, residential and agricultural land of Pakistan Railways” and that the effort by officials to take control of it, at that time, was unsuccessful. Still, village dwellers like the Katchi Abadis refused to leave. Similar issues of the mafia controlling railways in Pakistan also affect Islamabad and Lahore, with varied success in bringing the land back to the people.

In this quiet snow, the film begins with a scene where a child tries to pull his mother away from the train tracks. He is unable to save his mother then, and he becomes unable to save his wife later. The land took both these women, and yet this man, Wahid (Hameed Sheikh), was blamed for both deaths. Moor explores the consequences of the destruction of the main railway route between Bostan and Zhob in Balochistan due to the growing number of buses and cars in the area. Villages along the railway no longer became accessible, and families lost their livelihoods as mafias continued to create these alternate paths. Throughout are annotations as to which specific lines were broken, when, and what the consequences were to families more generally as conflict rises within the film. The annotations seem to support the film when the narrative is a part of this history. 

The film’s title, “Moor,” or “Ma,” addresses the storyline of the impact of a mother’s death, Wahid, and the death of his wife, Palwasha (Samiya Mumtaz), on his son, Ehsaan (Shaz Khan). Ehsaan runs a Karachi company providing fake degrees to support Visa applications; an operation halted when a client, Asghar (I.R. Omar), revealed his business location. It’s at this time that he hears about his mother’s passing from his ex, Amber (Sonya Hussyn). He visits his village for the janazah and assumes that Wahid, his father, is responsible for her death due to his quiet nature and conversations with the corrupt owners of the area, pushing him to give the train and land to the mafia. The title also reflects themes of the film referring to “motherland” as it laments the illegal distribution of land, which could have supported training and access to business in Pakistan. When Ehsaan comes to a breaking point, he swears, on Wahid’s life, that he won’t ever work in this or any corrupt business again. Wahid tells Ehsaan to “swear on your mother” that he will stop. Ehsaan does, and soon after, the film ends with the entire family, Wahid, Ehsaan, Amber (now his wife), and the granddaughter on the train, symbolizing a return to prosperity.

The film shows Wahid fighting for fairness in his family. He hadn’t received it as a child when his father brought home another wife, driving his mother to suicide, nor did he achieve it through his relationship with his brother, who schemes with the mafia to create a network of buses. (Wahid’s employee makes a keen effort not to put Ehsaan on one of Lallu’s, the mafia head, buses). His hope was always in his family, and Palwasha pushed him to improve. Wahid was so tormented that he allowed his brother and associates to sell. Still, Palwasha supported him in finding a new life by retrieving his pension for his honest work as a trainmaster and exposing the mafia. Seeing the pain it causes Wahid and feeling hopeless, she stands in the cold, freezing herself to death. Wahid leaves the village to seek justice from the powers taking over the town, retrieve his pension as a trainmaster, and live with Ehsaan. Upon visiting a family member first and learning that Ehsaan does not want to speak to him, Wahid learns of Ehsaan’s business. Wahid tells a lawyer about Ehsaan’s business. The lawyer tells him that “this is Karachi,” showing Wahid that the city isn’t much better than the village. Wahid seems powerless in the city, and he seems to have the wrong impression of what he thinks this city has to offer. He sent Ehsaan to Karachi unwillingly but hoping that he would have a better future. Before learning about Ehsaan’s business, Wahid successfully carried out a report against corruption in the village. But he could not do justice to save the city. He hears Ehsaan telling Amber that Ehsaan is involved in the corruption of the railroad and is responsible for his mother’s death. When receiving and being forced to deposit a large sum of his pension in the bank, Wahid chokes a bank employee to death.

Wahid’s errors are reflected in Ehsaan, who becomes tied to death. He receives a video of one of his clients, whom he suspects is out of the business. During his Visa interview, the client admitted that his documents were fake to stay with his ailing father. To escape trouble, he reveals details of the fraud company. He comes to the new office to ask for a refund to support his father’s operation, but Ehsaan’s partner only brought him to beat him. Ehsaan tries to clarify whether the client was the one who outed the business, the partner commanding the client to swear on a Qur’an app that he did not. The client puts his hand on the phone and swears he didn’t. In the video, the client explains his father told him it is better to punish himself than to lie, apologize to his parents, and then hang himself. Ehsaan goes on a downward spiral, trashing his office, smashing the window of his friend’s partner, and crying in a corner. Amber comes to diffuse the situation, and he calls for his mother.

When Ehsaan visits Wahid in jail, Waheed explains his innocence in Palwasha’s death and expresses his regret for the one instance of immorality regarding the prison. His involvement in allowing the territory to be sold, which he considered minor compared to the scale of the operation, is still a source of regret. He expresses the pain of his guilt exacerbated by Ehsaan’s illicit activities. After telling Ehsaan to swear on his mother to change, it seems both of them are on a mission to be moral people to make a better country; that is all the country has. The film ends with a shot from the perspective of a train driving through the snow, telling of the families who have fought for their integrity and their right to their dignity, implying their right to the land and its resources. The film, with some subtlety, has the voice of my grandparents when they look at what has become of their Pakistan. It gives this sense that Pakistan was never given a fair chance to start, its foundation leaving room for a country where “most of the ministers have fake degrees.” The only hope for Pakistan seems to be in the honesty of the ordinary person, standing up for what they are entitled to. (The film is dedicated to “the honest workers of Pakistan Railways.) They can lose their loved ones from the distress of their situations through corruption or death, and they will continue to hurt other people if they don’t change. 

“Moor” is available on Prime.