The Best of 2022: The THG Yearender
50+ Links with the best Cinema, Podcasts, Long reads, etc. for your vacation.
Welcome to the last edition of THG Recommendations for 2022.
The year has been a roller-coaster ride for most of us with inflation and economic turmoil accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upending many lives. Yet, we all saw good things and bad and had diverse experiences.
Here is the list of resources that I discovered mostly in 2022—not necessarily created or published this year—but will impact my way of thinking and living for a long time to come.
Let’s begin with cinema. This year has brought horror and abject misery for many people in the world in the form of extreme poverty and dislocation. Places like Afghanistan and Burma have seen rollback of even the slightest of freedoms and economic opportunities they had to begin with.
Out of many fine documentaries to come out from Afghanistan—Prison Sisters, I was Worth 50 Sheep and No Burqa Behind Bars by Nima Sarvestani; A Thousand Girls Like Me by Sahra Mani, etc.—I found the full version of this one in Youtube, so please enjoy while it is available:
This poignant 2011 documentary shows the life in Afghanistan during the post-2001 years. As the situation has now worsened if anything for the womenfolk in the country, the tale of the girl who was swapped for 50 sheep in a terrible marriage is highly relevant now.
To watch all of Sarvestani’s sublime documentaries capturing the essence of life in Afghanistan by paying $5 for each of them, please click here.
The finest new historical cinema that I watched this year is this account of Estonia under Stalin streamed in this year’s Nepal EU Film Festival. Please watch it wherever you can find it. Only trailer is available in Youtube:
If you understand even a little Hindi, please do not miss this profound tale of devastation of a poor woman whose migrant laborer husband has gone missing in the city in India. In this courageous journey in search of the man, this woman suffers every kind of loss and humiliation imaginable. To me, this is one of the best artistic portrayals of the hardship the poor and marginalized are facing across the world as the economic downturn that started with Covid pandemic gets deeper and wider:
Historically, Bengali filmmakers in India have done a lot to portray the horrendeous living conditions of people in the subcontinent. But this one, the 1980 cinema by Mrinal Sen touches the gory details of the 1943 Bengal Famine (full movie with English subtitles):
And this one about the horrific massacres in Suharto’s Indonesia, a documentary about the killers trying to re-enact the massacre to preserve their legacy(My review of this movie and its sequel in Nepali here):
On the theme of climate, never miss this profound documentary by Sturla Gunnarsson based on the legacy lecture given by David Suzuki which is available for free in the director’s website here.
Here are some of the finest works of cinema based on child psychology you would like to watch alongside your kids:
The 1959 Bengali masterpiece by Ritwik Ghatak with English subtitles:
Poignant 2016 Hindi cinema by Nagesh Kukunoor:
2010 film by Nila Madhab Panda:
Here is one more movie from Nagesh Kukunoor dealing with the inhumanity and sheer brutality of forced prostitution in India:
On classics, I would recommend a few:
From Italy:
From India:
On Short film, please do not miss these:
A deeply relatable yet sensitive and educational work on how to deal with the scourge of domestic/gender-based violence:
A profound tale of loss and dislocation:
Podcasts:
As THG was not yet born around this time last year, I’d recommend this series of 2021 Reith Lectures by Prof. Stuart Russell on AI:
The Biggest Event in Human History
AI in warfare
AI in Economy
AI: A Future for Humans
On the risk of nuclear war or accidents, here is the link to the first part of the series from BBC Radio 4’s Sideways podcast:
A Nuclear Awakening
On Impending water wars across the world, here is the well-researched series in The Red Line:
Water wars
Water is the most precious resource known to man, but some countries are currently preparing to wield it as a weapon. Through the building of hydroelectric dams, the shrinking of water supplies, or plain geography, water is set to reshape the balance of power in many of the world's geopolitical flashpoints. So where are these flashpoints, who is set to gain the upper hand, and how will climate craft a new reality for these nations? To answer that, we sat down with a panel of geopolitical experts.
On what our future looks like with climate crisis:
Chicago When It Sizzles on Cautionary Tales
The Climate Tipping Points on BBC Documentary
Silent Spring, 60 Years Later on Radio Open Source
Articles:
Here are two of the best THG original pieces that I wrote after coming back from ABC trip:
Here are the timeless four pieces that I recommended in the first ever THG Recommendation post:
The Gradual Extinction of Softness by Chantha Nguon with Kim Green, Hippocampus Magazine. This sublime 2021 piece encapsulates the horrors of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia better than anything else I have read on the subject.
How This All Happended by Morgan Housel, The Collaborative Fund (2021). The comprehensive yet lucid story behind how the consumption-driven economy took over the USA and the world.
The Vietnam Wars bu Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Rolling Stone (1980). Super long but super informative.
The Really Big One by Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker (2015). Breath-taking details of how a part of human civilization will be decimated by an inevitable earthquake.
You may check out the whole post with many more articles, movies and podcasts here:
For those of you who understand Nepali, here is the most popular piece I wrote for Setopati this year:
के जग्गी वासुदेव ‘सदगुरु’ नै हुन्?
Some of my pieces with lasting implications from last few years:
प्रविधिको दु:खान्त: लक्ष्य स्वर्ग, गन्तव्य नर्क
प्रेम र अस्तित्व खोज्दै मरुभूमि
Timeless Nepali piece by Nawaraj Parajuli:
Best guest post at THG this year:
Best Books:
Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide by Bill McGuire
शुन्यको मुल्यः सास, साहस र स्नेहको कथा - डा नवराज केसी