Customer Reviews

Touring India [VHS]

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This is truly a great travel video. It's a cursory tour through a very diverse country, but Rick Ray's script is poetic and sensitive. All too often, travel videos of "exotic" lands are insensitive to the cultures they explore and nearly relegate the locals to zoo exhibits. But as Ray claims, "to analyze India on Western terms is a big mistake." This video covers a broad geographical range, from the Himalayas to the Backwaters of Kerala, from the ancient city of Varanasi to the modern developments of Mumbai. Throughout, this provides the relevant spiritual, cultural, and historical contexts.

There are some funny spots in this movie- for example:

"[The Ganges] waters not only wash the sins out of men's souls, they wash the stains out of men's socks."

and

"It's been said that all Indians are born actors. And the worst ones are in movies."