They watched and consumed the news like all of us. They read and heard plenty about the burgeoning housing crisis and the rising debt and unemployment levels. But 92-year-old Shirley and 84-year-old Hinda, two best friends based in Seattle in USA found the solution to the economic crisis that was being offered by most politicians, bizarre: that we should continue to grow the economy; must buy, consume and amass more to keep it growing. Is that sustainable, they wondered.
So, they took out their mobility scooters, stocked up on medicines, studied a bunch of texts and journals and visited a whole range of people right from the homeless to professors in universities to multinational corporations and even to people at the grand Wall Street dinner with one simple, yet poignant question: “Can we keep growing our economy forever? Why should we?”
It is this incredibly fascinating quest undertaken by Shirley and Hinda that is the subject of Two Raging Grannies , a documentary by Norwegian filmmaker Havard Bustnes. The film, which will be screened by Vikalp, Bengaluru as part of their Doc@Everest series, challenges the dominant narrative about the global economic crisis and makes you sit up and take notice of the pertinent questions that the two are asking. However, what is truly endearing about the film is the chemistry between Shirley and Hinda. In this interview, Havard speaks about how he met the duo and what it was like to work with them. Excerpts.
How did this film come to be?
I happened to see a video clip on YouTube of this group called Raging Grannies, an activist organisation that can be found in parts of the United States of America and Canada. I was fascinated by the fact that Raging Grannies comprises groups of old women who believe in social justice who are out on the streets protesting for the same.
My researcher then arranged Skype meetings with some of the members of the organisation and the ones I spoke to turned out to be Shirley and Hinda. I fell in love with both of them almost immediately. They are funny, beautiful and very interesting. I then went to Seattle for 20 days to make a pilot for the film but I returned to Norway with almost two-thirds of the film. Normally, it would take a year to make such a film but Shirley and Hinda are a director’s dream characters. They are discussing all the time; they are like an old couple.
Why did you decide to discuss the subject of economic growth?
Personally, I’ve been interested in that question for some time now. I’ve been thinking about the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. While talking to Shirley and Hinda, I realised that even the US, especially Seattle is interested in this question. Shirley’s daughter too is working on something similar. So, it was easy to delve deeper into the subject.
Also, let’s take Shirley for example. She is 92 years old. She was a young girl during the great economic crisis. She knows that the economy has not been growing all the time. The film attempts to, therefore, capture, this quest- their search for answers to why the economy has to continuously grow in the wake of such devastating environmental and economic consequences.
Were you worried about having to simplify academic jargon?
At the editing table, we sifted through a lot of material to ensure that the film is comprehensible. But this film does not claim to answer every question on economic growth. It is more about just being able to ask certain questions. And most importantly, this film is about capturing the zest for life of these two old women and the fact that it is never too late to do something in life.
Have they watched the film? Did they like it?
Well, Hinda didn’t like it. She was a bit angry when she first saw the film. She felt that her illness was given more prominence in the film. But then she came with Shirley to Norway and there she saw the film again with a large audience. She saw the audience laugh, cry and enjoy the film. She came to me and said, “I’m funny!” They were like movie stars in Norway. They even met Michael Moore.
What is it like to be a documentary filmmaker in Norway?
In Norway, we are very lucky because there is a lot of support for documentary filmmakers. There is funding from both government as well as private agencies. Of course, when I started out 17 years ago, it wasn’t like this. You still don’t make a lot of money but at least here, people watch more documentary films. I love the documentary as a medium because I’m quite curious about real people and their idiosyncrasies.
Two Raging Grannies will be screened at Everest theatre, Fraser Town on October 29 at 7 p.m.
