Chloe Ruthven, Jungle Sisters, 2015. All rights reserved.The market is a cruel taskmaster. It uproots people from their villages and drags them into the maelstrom of the modern city. Traditional communal ties are broken, families are separated, and millions have to adjust to a new rhythm of life. Today, modern Asia is undergoing a massive feat of social engineering as countries such as India and China become increasingly integrated into the global economy. Men, women and children are on the move in record numbers. For some it will be worth it; for others not. It is a wrenching transition, felt at every level of society.
Chloe Ruthven’s film Jungle Sisters, screening as part of the Open City Documentary Festival, is an attempt to make sense of this tumultuous process. At its centre is Orlanda Ruthven, the director’s younger sister, whose job is to scour India’s vast rural terrain for able bodies willing to work in Bangalore’s garment factories. The Ruthvens have a troubled relationship. 18 years ago, Orlanda moved to India from the UK and never returned home, a fact their father joked was down to her older sister. Chloe disapproves of Orlanda’s job and Orlanda thinks Chloe is a “typical middle class lefty.” “Stop being judgmental and come and see for yourself,” she tells her. So that’s what Chloe does.
Orlanda’s ideological make-up becomes apparent in the first few minutes of the film. In a talk given to a group of business students, she outlines the government’s ambitious 2008 policy to train 500 million workers by 2022. “We’re taking the masses from the countryside!” she declares with the messianic confidence of someone working as the visible hand of the market. There are two ways to view this process, she then cautions her audience: the workers could be “adversely incorporated” (a euphemism for overtly exploited) or, and it is clear she feels this is more likely, they could reap the benefits from the trickle down of wealth that would inevitably ensue.
