''Stop Genocide'' is a 1971

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

i filmmaker

Zahir Raihan Mohammad Zahirullah (19 August 1935 – disappeared 30 January 1972), known as Zahir Raihan, was a Bangladeshi novelist, writer and filmmaker. He is most notable for his documentary ''Stop Genocide'' (1971), made during the Bangladesh Liberation ...

. It is a 20-minute film that documents the killings and atrocities carried out by the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

on the people of the then

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. It also depicts the plight of the

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and the activities of the

Government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...

. Raihan made his debut in making of documentary films with ''Stop Genocide''. Raihan started planning for this documentary around April–May in 1971 and soon started making it. Film director Alamgir Kabir helped him. Filmed in June, it was produced in less than a month. The similarity of this documentary with some of those by

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n filmmaker Santiago Álvarez indicates Álvarez's influence over Zahir Raihan. Raihan adopted a new technique of film-making of using found

video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...

s and

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

s while he was working for this documentary. The film was created using whatever was found in

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...

clips and

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a ( often special) video camera, which typically must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or ...

. Raihan made this documentary with an aim to move world opinion against the brutal acts committed by the Pakistan Army. Raihan was a Refugee staying in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

when he made this film.

Content summary

The documentary starts by quoting

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

from '' The Right of Nations to Self-Determination''. A sketch of Lenin appears at the beginning and then a series of long and mid shots delineate a peaceful country life. But soon gunshots and turbulence replaces the tranquility. The next few shots portray the plunder, fire, wreckage, and killings committed by the Pakistan Army. The preamble of the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

is mentioned several times. A series of still photos create some of the

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called t ...

that show the bombing of the

US Air force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and its

aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an Americ ...

. The Dateline shows

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

of 20 July. Bomber B-52 and a burnt Vietnamese child are seen. The focus switches from Saigon to

Bongaon Bangaon is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bangaon subdivision. Geography Location Bangaon is located at . It has an average elevation of 7 m ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Processions of refugees make a few sequences. A picture of struggling, distressing life of homeless, helpless, frightened refugees follows. Some of the refugees are seen looking for shelter in refugee camps while not an inch of any camp can accommodate them. Next appears a series of long shots taken from pictures of raped women, destroyed buildings and heaps of dead bodies. Alternating appearances of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

, pictures of

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

, the massacre by Nazis, piles of dead bodies nearby German prison camps, refugee camps in India, heaps of dead bodies in the streets of

, fire, and wreckage in towns and villages make the next few scenes. Numerous corpses are seen in rivers, streets, paddy fields, under the trees and on green, long grass. Shot after shot illustrate the sufferings of refugees. An old woman talks to an inquirer. The camera focuses on a group of armed guerrilla returning from an operation. Soon they disappear in the woods. Camps of freedom fighters and the camp commandant appear. The commandant gives an interview. He talks about the war, the reason behind the war, the moral strength and confidence they own. The documentary ends with the word STOP occupying full frame.

Production

The

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

documentary used

35 mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...

. The narrative was in English and it was an opportunity to convey the message of the suffering of oppressed people of the newly born country of Bangladesh to the rest of the world. The documentary was produced by Bangladesh Chalachitra Shilpi-O-Kushali Swahayak Samity.

Crew

Screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

and direction. * Babul Chowdhury : Chief Assistant * Debabrata Sen Gupta :

Editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

* Chitta Bardhan : Production * Arun Roy : Photography Commentary written and spoken by Alamgir Kabir.

Financing

The Department of Films and Publications of

Mujibnagar Government The Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government, was established following the declaration of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on 10 April 1971. Headed by prime minis ...

did not consider the director's attempt to make a documentary on the ongoing

Liberation War Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

important at first. Later they agreed to finance the documentary. With the help of a few cultural activists, Raihan managed to collect funds for the film from a national organization comprising Indian film directors.

Film release and distributions

The film was released in 1971. The Mujibnagar Cabinet, along with some other exiled politicians, witnessed the first screening of Stop Genocide at a secret place in India. The acting Prime Minister

Tajuddin Ahmad Tajuddin Ahmad ( bn, তাজউদ্দীন আহমদ; ; 23 July 1925 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman. He led the Provisional Government of Bangladesh as its prime minister during the Bangladesh Liberatio ...

appreciated the documentary. Moreover, moved by the film, the Indian Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

directed her film division to buy the film and distribute it internationally.

Awards

''Stop Genocide'' won an award in Tashkent film festival in 1972. It also won the SIDLOC award at the Delhi Film Festival in 1975.

References

External links

* * * {{YouTube, vIMCOc_pOYw, ''Stop Genocide: Part 3'' 1971 films 1971 documentary films Bengali-language Bangladeshi films Bangladeshi documentary films 1970s Bengali-language films Documentary films about Pakistan Documentary films alleging war crimes Films based on the Bangladesh Liberation War 1970s short documentary films