The Ship of Theseus Paradox in Film: How the Movie Explores Identity
Ralph Rosario
“As the planks of Theseus’ ship needed repair, it was replaced part by part, up to a point where not a single part from the original ship remained in it, anymore. Is it, then still the same ship?
If all the discarded parts were used to build another ship, which of the two, if either, is the real Ship of Theseus ?”
Those are the starting lines of the 2012 movie Ship of Theseus made by Anand Gandhi. The movie has remained an underrated gem despite having a philosophical depth and cinematic finesse that is seen rarely, even rarer coming from India. The movie follows three seemingly disconnected stories, awaited by a climax that shows how deeply those stories are connected.
The three stories of The Ship of Theseus
In the first story we are introduced to a blind photographer, at the top of her craft. I see some irony here as a photography enthusiast myself. She when blind can take photos to show the world that she sees. After doing a eye surgery her vision is back but the artistic expression that was once hers was never the same afterwards. The second story, and in my opinion the best story of the whole movie is of a monk. A monk living to abolish cruel treatment to lab animals by big pharma. He has high morals and ideals, and a belief in the concept of soul. He, however finds himself suffering from a liver condition that would require a Liver transplant and the use of drugs from the same big pharma he was fighting against. He stands his ground till he is in the brink of death but something changes. The third story follows a young man with a practical view of life who just had a kidney transplant and right after finds about a huge organ trafficking scandal. The best experience of the movie comes right at the end of the movie, and I wouldn’t like to rob people off of the experience so this much for the stories.
The Direction
Anand Gandhi, a talented director and more of a story teller uses bold visualization of ideas rather than exposition. You really need to pay attention to what is happening in the story to truly feel what the movie is trying to tell you. Fun fact Anand Gandhi was himself nursing his grandparents when the Ship of Theseus story came to fruition. He takes us from the hectic Mumbai streets, to vast plains with windmills in the second story, The third story shows the lavishness of Stockholm to the cramped streets of a slum. The overall pace of the movie is relaxing as it should have been. In the story of the monk, Neeraj Kabi a talented theater actor, lost huge body mass to portray the dying state of the monk.
Thoughts
The ship of Theseus is a movie that falls under the see it to believe it category, and through this article I would like to request you to watch it once. It is very hard to write about the movie with the level of story, cinematography and acting in words. I hope at least one of you watches this masterpiece. This movie is publicly available in YouTube uploaded by Kunal Kamra, the standup comedian and social activist. I left out the climax so that I don’t spoil the experience, Enjoy!!
