The politically tumultuous years in the modern history of Kerala, a state in South India that, in 1959, was the first to democratically elect a Communist government, is the backdrop for this film that follows the life from childhood to adulthood of Kunjunni, a petit bourgeois country boy turned leftist radical. The human elements of the story are always in the foreground of this gently paced film, from the family gathered to watch Kunjunni's Communist uncle eat his dinner-a touching, quiet moment of familial bonding-to rituals such as bathing in the river, or walking to school through a lush green landscape. It's a down-to-earth, humanitarian approach to understanding the region's complex history.-Kurt Wolff