Bangladesh, surviving in chaos | The roads of the impossible

In Bangladesh, the most populous country on the planet, a saying goes that what costs the least is life. From the first images of the film, the term overpopulation takes on a concrete and sadly inhuman dimension. For example, who could imagine that a man voluntarily plunges almost naked into the sewers of a capital of 15 million people in the middle of human excrement to go there to look for gold? This is the only job Gazi knows how to do. Wounds and chemicals are eating away at him. He knows himself to be condemned in the short term. But it is the only way he has found to feed his family and especially to allow his children to escape their destiny of misery. To cope with the absurdity of an infernal daily life, many rely on religion. Every year in Bangladesh takes place one of the largest Muslim pilgrimages in the world. For the event nearly 5 million pilgrims flock from all over the country. Buses, boats and trains are taken by storm. Passengers are everywhere on the roofs, on the axles, clinging to the windows. An almost unmanageable crowd overflow in a country with obsolete infrastructure. At the sight of these barely believable images, one wonders if it is faith or self-sacrifice that allows Bangladeshis to thwart the traps of overpopulation and thus keep smiling. Authors: Daniel Lainé, David Geoffrion - 2014