মাটির ময়না (The Clay Bird), Dir. Tareque Masud

আমার সোনার বাংলা,

আমি তোমায় ভালবাসি।

চিরদিন তোমার আকাশ,

তোমার বাতাস

আমার প্রাণে বাজায় বাঁশি।

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVjbVPFeo2o

This song is written by the poet Rabindranath Tagore in the year 1905 following the Partition of Bengal by the then viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The first 10 lines of this song later constitute the national anthem of Bangladesh just after the "Bangladesh Liberation war" in the year 1971.

THE CLAY BIRD

This film is set during the pre-liberation war just before the birth of "Bangladesh". It's about a conservative muslim family, where life seems to be moving on a regular routine but the political situation of the country (East Pakistan then called) brings a lot of tension along with disaster in the end.

The young protagonist character Anwar (Nurul Islam bablu) was sent to Madrasha (Islamic religious boarding school) by his religious father Kazi (Jayanto Chattopadhyay). In fact it reflects the director's own experience in Madrasha school during the period of Bangladesh Liberation war. Kazi is a homeopathic pharmacist & according to him " ALLOPATHY IS THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE WHERE AS HOMEOPATHY IS THE TREATMENT OF PATIENT".

Kazi's brother Milon (Soaeb Islam) is a true Marxist supporter and their mentalities don't match though their ideologies like both Homeopathy & Marxology came from the same path i.e. Germany.

The film portrays various historical incidents of that era through human experience of the young protagonist character. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes his family with sudden death of his sister due to his father's (Kazi') refusal to use Western antibiotics, and a terrifying attack by the Pakistani troops on their village to prevent Bangladeshi Independence. "The Clay Bird" deeply reminds Satyajit Ray's childhood epic of rural India "Pather Panchali" to show the nature through simple observation of a child.

Because of the political turmoil, people in general were confused between religion & politics at that time. Some people like Kazi were supporting Pakistan because they were unable to accept the reality of brutal killings of their Islamic brothers from West Pakistan. But at last it raises question of mixing up Political and extreme religious views. 

The literary translation of this song of the movie means " Our mind is like a bird which is imprisoned inside the cage made up of human body". The music of this film represents the folk culture as well as baul. Words are very impressive and can make anyone feel free.