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All That Breathes Movie Review

All That Breathes is a 2022 Indian documentary film directed by Shaunak Sen. It is a beautifully shot and important, but unfortunately uneven effort.

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“That’s why it’s called science fiction.

So much of science fiction is unscientific“

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As legions of birds fall from New Delhi’s skies and the city smolders with social unrest, two brothers race to save one of the casualties: a majestic black kite, a bird of prey essential to their city’s ecosystem. This movie was made for me as I am a big biology and ecology enthusiast and I find the issue of pollution highly important and under-discussed. And this movie does deal with those issues head-on, but in its emphasis on the main duo, it unfortunately lost that focus in the problematic second half.

I do realize that these two brothers are doing extremely important work in the field of protecting birds in urban areas, but there was absolutely no need for the movie to focus so extensively on the two to the point that it seemed over-indulgent. It just seemed overly gratuitous in that way and just plain unlikable.

What also bothered me with that second half was especially the third act, which was a giant mess. This is where suddenly the two brothers’ stories are intersected with the birds’ plight, which rang false. There is no need to always connect one plight to the other and here it came as a serious detractor from the main story. The entire emphasis on religion in the end felt tacked on and pointless.

Where All That Breathes succeeds, on the other hand, is in its cinematography, which is some of the best of the year. In spite of the toxic nature of New Delhi’s air, the film actually is rather gorgeous, especially in some of the more elaborately composed and detailed imagery. The aerial sequences and the moments on the river for example are just some of the highlights of the stupendous shots that the movie has to offer.

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The editing is also strong as is the directing while the first act is wonderful, particularly in showcasing the brothers’ care for the birds, which was truly touching. Unfortunately, the extensive narration ruined the movie afterward as it was all but subtle.