Those who have survived are also on the brink of death.

We have collectively been living through history these last two-plus years. It may not seem like it, since we have largely become consumed with what’s fair, what’s safe, what we need, what we deserve, what we can do, and what just can’t handle anymore.

Be that as it may, every passing month since the beginning of 2020, the history books have gained new chapters. These chapters have been written by those who survived something immense. They did so through diligence, over-cautiousness, or sometimes pure luck. It’s fair to say that they – which is to say, we – might not be ready look back on what they/we endured.

TORA’S HUSBAND is the story, whether we are ready for it or not.

Told by Rima Das, TORA’S HUSBAND is a document of the COVID-19 pandemic as it happened in Assam, India. The centre of the story is Jaan – a cafe owner, husband, and father who struggles to keep afloat in the face of the global crisis. The film takes us back through the earliest and scariest days of the last few years, and shows us events through the eyes of some of the people hardest-hit by the pandemic.

On the surface, one might feel as though retracing our steps would be a depressing slog. Das is equal to the task though, and captures everything with empathy, beauty, and warmth. She wants us to sit in many chairs at the table – to understand how things unfolded for people other than ourselves. She wants us to consider (or even re-consider) how we coped, and whether our coping methods came at the cost of others. Whether it did or not, she is not here to judge – she only wants us to ask ourselves.

One of the final scenes of the film includes the quote that begins this review, and it’s a sharp summation both of what we see in the picture and what so many of us have endured. As much as we did articulate the stress and trauma of what we as a society just endured, it seems as though so much remained unspoken. There are pages missing from this story – chapters that still haven’t been written. There are perspectives from above and below we haven’t fully considered, and they are all vital in being able to fully comprehend what just happened…let alone process it.

TORA’S HUSBAND takes on the daunting challenge of telling a tale that is still unfolding. Almost unbelievably, the film meets the challenge.