Global Visions film series features "The Clay Bird" April 8 The Global Visions film series will present "The Clay Bird" (Bangladesh) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in the Lecture Bowl, Memorial Union. Admission is free. This is probably an unusual, but perhaps apt, time for this intelligent drama, easily one of the finest pictures of 2003 or any other year. Tareque Masud's expansive fluidity is rapturous, inspired equally by the floating equanimity of Satyajit Ray and the work of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, who deftly uses ritual behavior to provide social commentary. Set in Bangladesh in the 1960s, "The Clay Bird" questions the nature of dedication to Islam. It doesn't attack fealty but eventually rebukes zealotry by showing a boy's reaction to his father's recent total immersion. Anu (Nurul Islam Bablu) is sent off to a religious school by his father, Kazi (Jayanto Chattopadhyay). Kazi doesn't want his son tainted by the outside world. His obedient though doubtful wife, Ayesha (Rokeya Prachy), quietly expresses through frowns her concern about Kazi's close-minded new seriousness. She gently reasons with her boy, and the bright Anu resigns himself to his new life. Mr. Masud's sensitivity gives the film a pungent emotional clarity; he recognizes that naïveté isn't a province only of childhood. Kazi's a naïf, too, and learns the hard way that following a path without independent thought is a fool's errand. He's ultimately devastated when he learns of the civil war and Muslims attacking other Muslims: the revolution is coming, and it claims Kazi's way of life. — Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times The Department of Anthropology’s Global Visions film series brings an exciting array of films to the community of Grand Forks for the fifth consecutive year. Two films are presented each month in the Memorial Union Lecture Bowl. The series is currently the only venue in Grand Forks to view award-winning, nationally recognized independent films from a wide variety of contemporary film makers around the world. All films are at 7 p.m. on various Tuesday evenings between now and the end of April at the UND Memorial Union Lecture Bowl. The series, free and open to the public, is partially funded by the Multicultural Awareness Committee. Filmgoers are encouraged to come early to ensure a seat. The last movie will be April 22, "The Wind Will Carry Us" (Iran). This series is funded by the Multicultural Awareness Committee, and the Department of Anthropology and the Anthropology Club. -- Marcia Mikulak, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, marcia.mikulak@und.nodak.edu, 777-4718