There have been a few little cinematic gems portraying life in the developing world in recent years. Add this as one of the best in the genre. And if there is one movie you watch about Nepal to understand its people and their everyday lives, make it Highway. A film that neither exoticizes Nepal for its beautiful landscape nor exploits it for its poverty and civil war, Highway is the most authentic film to portray Nepal in its diversity, hopes and difficulties.
A bus full of people leaves from Eastern Nepal to Kathmandu, the capital. Along the way, they are stopped several times because of bandhs – a form of protests where the highways are blocked and traffic brought to a half. We meet several characters on the ride, each with their own story and urgency to reach Kathmandu on time. A young woman can't decide between her boyfriend and the fiancé who has arrived from the US to marry her (and has been involved in a hit-and-run accident). A Gurkha soldier rushes to his wife in time to try out a fertility potion he's swallowed (not knowing she's kept some secrets from him). A gay man hopes to reunite with his estranged lover; and the bus driver knows the woman he loves may be forced back into prostitution if he doesn't show up with money for her sick child.
The scenes oscillate between the bus ride and their unique and morally confounding stories, deftly using with flashbacks. Using his experience at BBC radio, the director uses on-the-spot sounds complemented by some beautiful camera-work. The bus ride itself serves as a metaphor for this beautiful but impoverished country's emergence from a decade long civil war, its faltering peace process, and the resilience and hopes of its people. Highway is easily the best film from the country to date.