The young student Anu (Nurul Islam Bablu) is torn between the worlds of Hindu and Muslim religions in this Bangladeshi film directed by Tareque Masud. Set in the 1960s in Pakistan before Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971, the film portrays many opposing political opinions and various religious sects all agitating each other in a quiet cultural upheaval. Anu's father is a converted orthodox Muslim whose beliefs grow stronger and more conservative daily. Meanwhile, Anu's mother finds this transition strange and longs to be part of the more modern beliefs in their Hindu village. Anu's uncle takes him to village festivals where he delights in the openness and celebrations of the pagan people. But his father sees this as Anu's corruption and sends him far away to a strict Islamic school called a madrasa. At the madrasa, Anu is an outcast who is rejected by the other boys and chastised by his teachers. He has trouble adjusting to the monastic style of life there and misses playing with his sister and living with his family. On a visit home, he brings his sister a beautiful brightly painted clay bird which they all know his father would reject. Symbolically, the pigeon is the poison by which the family's divide only grows. Anu's sister falls ill and, with his mother believing in Western medicine and his father devoted to holistic solutions, there is no way to cure her. A spiritual look at a period of intense change, seen through the interplay of one family, THE CLAY BIRD is a unique entry from the cinema of Bangladesh.
