• Home
  • News
  • Top Picks
    • Movies & Films: Top 25
    • Documentaries: Top 25
    • Films For Students: Top 10
    • Music Videos: Top 10
  • Categories
    • Film
    • Documentary
    • Shorts
    • Blog
    • Calendar
    • Links
    • About

Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World

Libertarian Movies, Films & Documentaries

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Tagged: Anti-taxation

Indian villagers take on British colonial troops in a high stakes game of cricket, the outcome of which will determine whether their village taxes (lagaan) will be raised to crushing levels or eliminated altogether. [ Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India credits: Dir: Ashutosh Gowariker/ Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley/ 224min/ Musical/ Anti-Taxation/ Indian/ Hindi with English subtitles]

“Libertarians will obviously appreciate this film for its anti-tax and anti-imperialism themes, and it also has a social tolerance element that should appeal…Lagaan won numerous awards worldwide and was nominated for the ‘Best Foreign Film’ Academy Award.”

The premise here is a bit far-fetched, but the telling is more than entertaining enough to make a little suspended judgment worthwhile. The year is 1893; the place, a rural town in British colonial India. It seems the annual “lagaan” (agricultural tax) on local villagers was cancelled in the previous year due to an extended drought that made paying it impossible. Though the drought continues, the sadistic British captain in charge of the province orders the lagaan not only reinstated but doubled.

The desperate villagers appeal this decision, so the captain makes them a Machiavellian offer: the village will play a game of cricket against the occupying British troops; if the villagers win, the tax will be cancelled for three years; if they lose, the tax will be reinstated and tripled.

What follows is a cross between Ghandi and The Bad News Bears, as the villagers assemble an untrained cricket team from their own rag tag ranks to face the relentlessly professional Brits, knowing all the while that if they lose they face certain destitution. Leading the villagers is Bhuvan, a sensitive man of the 1890s (played by Indian heartthrob Aamir Khan–by looks, India’s answer to Tony Curtis). Most of the story is about how Bhuvan recruits viable cricket players, learns the game of cricket, trains his team, and above all overcomes the villagers’ sense of hopelessness–all leading to the film’s climactic end.

Libertarians will obviously appreciate this film for its anti-tax and anti-imperialism themes, and it also has a social tolerance element that should appeal, as the Indian cricket players must overcome their historic ethnic animosities in order to win. It would have been easy for a film like this to have turned into pointless Brit bashing, but, the evil captain aside, the British themselves are portrayed for the most part as a decent lot with a strong sense of fair play. No ill will here, this is an upbeat musical?!

Yes, at critical junctures in the story everyone breaks into song and dance in the typical Bollywood style. Somehow it works. Good thing, since this is the most expensive cinematic production in Indian history. The main downside is that it’s long, at nearly four hours. But don’t let that stop you from seeing this film; the time is well spent. Lagaan won numerous awards worldwide and was nominated for the “Best Foreign Film” Academy Award.

How to See It

Amazon (DVD)
Online Video Search

Links

IMDB
Wikipedia

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

  • RSS
  • Twitter

Featured Post

badass beauty queen

Badass Beauty Queen | Documentary

Anastasia Lin wins the annual Miss World Canada beauty contest and uses her newfound notoriety to campaign against human rights abuses in communist China. [ Badass Beauty Queen credits: Dir: Theresa Kowall-Shipp/ Anastasia Lin/ 100 min/ Documentary/ Libertarian Heroes, Anti-Socialism/ Country/ … Continue Reading

Snowflake

Snowflake: Bud Sugar Song Mocks Social Justice Crybullies

Snowflake is a great new song from the band Bud Sugar. It mocks social justice crybullies in a lighthearted way and to a catchy beat. This is just great fun. Some links for the band: YouTube  Instagram  Facebook  Twitter  Patreon  Homepage … Continue Reading

A Pity You’ve Never Seen An Old Movie: 10 Suggested Films

Per the New York Post, "A new study finds that less than a quarter of millennials have watched an old movie from start to finish that was made back in the 1940s or 50s and only a third have seen one from the 1960s." This is something of a cultural tragedy, as so much of what is great in the larger body of … Continue Reading

Themes

Abuse of power American revolution Anti-draft Anti-regulation Anti-slavery Anti-socialism Anti-taxation Anti-war Ayn Rand Corrupt government Creator as hero Democide Econ 101 Eminent domain Equality & law Escape from socialism Freedom of speech Free press as hero Government as bigot Government as torturer Government enforced morality Government healthcare Government schools Incompetent government Individualism John Stossel Law & liberty Legalize Drugs Libertarian heroes Libertarianism 101 Power corrupts Power worship Pro-capitalism Pro-immigration Propaganda Psychiatric coercion Resistance to tyranny Right to secede Search & seizure Second amendment Sexual liberty Social tolerance Unions & monopolies Voluntarism Working for government

Genres/Categories

Action-Adventure Animated Biography Blog Comedy Documentary Drama Family Featured Film Foreign History Horror Music-Dance Netflix News Romance SciFi-Fantasy Shorts Thriller Upcoming Western

About Miss Liberty

This site is a collection of films and documentaries of particular interest to libertarians (and those interested in libertarianism). It began as a book, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, where many of the recommended films were first reviewed. The current collection has grown to now more than double the number in that original list, and it’s growing still.

  • RSS

© 2022 Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World. All Rights Reserved

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.