Who's Viewpoint is it, Anyway?

For these past three movies four focus has been on the differences in narrative. Casablanca is an example of classic Hollywood style, Monsoon Wedding shows us a style similar to that of Bollywood, and Daughters of the Dust is an example of a narrative that simply has no interest in anything that resembles convention.

The Bollywood editing deviates from the conventions of Hollywood in subtle ways. Rather than focusing on a single character and the events that directly relate to him/her, Monsoon Wedding shows us many distinct stories and how they weave together to form the event of Aditi's wedding. The narrative point of view fluidly shifts and the narration belongs to most, if not all of the characters. Traditional Hollywood focuses on a single character, but Bollywood seems to focus on an event and everyone it touches.

Daughters of the Dust, on the other hand, felt almost anarchistic in it's narrative style. While is does focus on the Peazants' crossing, it does so only loosely. Characters are given focus seemingly at random and there are many small, totally unconnected stories flying about. There is no narrative point of view... or perhaps there's every one? When every character has the spotlight, and is using it to tell their own story, you wind up with a confusing and downright boring narrative in which it seems nothing actually happens. Experimentation is a good thing, but there are some conventions that shouldn't be broken.