Hinduism
1962 · 18m · Canada
Directed by David Millar
Genres: documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative
The history and teachings of Hinduism in India are traced, including non-violence, reverence for living things and the modern rejection of caste-based untouchability.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1962 educational doc about Hinduism sounds like the kind of thing that puts people to sleep, but Millar's refusal to sentimentalize or exoticize the subject—treating it as living philosophy rather than museum artifact—is genuinely strange for its moment; the film trusts the material enough not to sensationalize it.
This sits squarely in the NFB's didactic tradition, yet Millar's measured pacing and formal commitment to letting ritual and landscape speak for themselves elevates what could be rote pedagogy into something architecturally considered—a model of how documentary can honor complexity without collapsing into either reverence or condescension.
The structural choice to let non-violence and the rejection of untouchability emerge through observation rather than narration is the film's quiet brilliance; that restraint—knowing when *not* to explain—is what makes a modest budget feel like it's working twice as hard to respect the viewer's intelligence.