Ashes & Snow

An Essay

Darpan Shukla, PGDP

Ashes & Snow

Gregory Colbert’s documentary, “Ashes and Snow”, is – as per my interpretation – an

enchanting look at the complex relationships shared by animals and mankind, as well as the
interconnectedness of all life on this planet. Exploring powerful themes such as freedom, identity and
self-discovery, the film has been executed with a unique visual flair as evidenced by its usage of a sepia
filter throughout, which adds to its overall cinematic appeal. Location-wise, the film is a globetrotter as it
features footage from Burma, India, South America, North Africa and the Pacific Ocean, while also using
each separate setting to highlight a different aspect of its tale. Also, it chooses to tell its story in a
captivating manner – beginning with an ambiguous opening statement, narrated by a disembodied
protagonist of sorts:

“If you come to me at this moment, your minutes will become hours; your hours will become days and your days
will become a lifetime”.

While the film can be considered non-linear in terms of its narrative, I personally felt the above
quote encapsulates a part of the message the director wishes to express. To me, that message revolves
around the connections between man and his animal counterpart – connections which transcend
physical or biological similarities and are thereby representative of a larger picture. For example, the film
features a sequence with a child and an adult on a boat, travelling down a river with elephants watching
them. While this is merely a transitionary shot on a superficial level, it speaks volumes when taken in the
context provided by the film – the duo is no longer simply travelling from point A to B, theirs is now a

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journey which is suggestive of something larger, possibly an analogy for some kind of initiation ritual.
Similarly, the elephants become more than just silent spectators, now standing guard over the hopefuls
as sentinels watching over their charges.

In another instance, the film’s opening sequence depicts a man underwater who reaches out to
and intangibly connects with a deep sea whale. Despite their obvious differences as species, both are able
to communicate with each other on a more basic, instinctual level while we get the impression they’ve
bonded. Behavioral patterns and responses we tend to associate exclusively with human beings are
echoed by the animals in the film – emotions such as joy are captured in the fleeting shots of a woman
being nuzzled by a young elephant as she dances on a riverbank, while the other end of the spectrum is
also portrayed via the same woman’s hair-raising encounter with a pack of hyenas. Breaking the barriers
between people and animals on an intellectual, emotional and spiritual level, the film shows us how
we’re more closely connected than we initially anticipated.

“The whales do not sing

because they have an answer.
They sing because they have a song.”

These individual narrative threads tie together as if the director’s trying to tell us of a world
where life is perceived as man via the wild, as opposed to man versus the wild: self-discovery through

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nature, if you will, as opposed to rigid definitions of superiority on the basis of species. This brings us to
the relationship between the classical definition of evolution (more specifically, the theory of Natural
Selection) and our world today. While survival of the fittest dictates a particular cycle of events wherein
nature herself decides on an evolutionary successor, the director has attempted to show us a world where
humans and animals exist in a state of harmony that goes beyond habitats and encroachment, a world
wherein our relationship with the life around us is symbiotic to the extent of being able to see shades of
ourselves in our companions and vice versa.

This is also reinforced by the prevalence of instinct as a unifying phenomenon between species:
the protective instincts of a parent towards their child are echoed through the eloquent portrayal of a
group of cheetahs and a human family in what appears to be a desert region.

Self-discovery as a thematic concept is also greatly expanded upon as the narrator, Laurence
Fishburne, mentions a Princess of Elephants he hasn’t seen in a year and refers to a series of letters he
has sent her:

“Please forgive me for the silence between us has been unbroken for one year
This letter breaks that silence
It marks the first of my three hundred and sixty-five letters to you
One for each Day of Silence
I will never be more myself, than in these letters”

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We’re given to understand that he’s undergone a period of exile, possibly self-imposed, during
which he’s travelled the world. As his travels progress, we see a gradual fixation on the aforementioned
idea of self-discovery through nature – he gains a better understanding of himself by looking at the
world through the eyes of the wildlife around him. There is a personal growth that the narrator has
experienced throughout his exile which he doesn’t reveal to the Princess directly, instead using the
letters as indicators to show how he’s matured and been affected by his ordeal.

“The longer I watch the Savanna elephants, the more I listen, the more that I open, they remind me of who I am
May the guardian elephants hear my wish to collaborate with all the musicians of nature's orchestra
I want to see through the eyes of the elephant
I want to join the dance that has no steps
I want to become the dance”

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Finally, the director succinctly conveys his philosophy within a haiku, which, in my opinion,
represents his creed, or way of life and looking at the world – all living organisms on Earth go back to
their roots in the same way, through ashes. However, the inclusion of snow implies a cyclical, life-death-
rebirth phenomenon which again ties into the interconnected nature of all life. On a personal note, the
film resonated with me because of its focus on the inherently similar natures of animals and mankind.

“Feather to fire, fire to blood

Blood to bone, bone to marrow,
Marrow to ashes, ashes to snow”

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