Bangladesh: surviving in chaos | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

In Bangladesh, the most densely populated country on the planet, they have a saying that the cheapest thing is life. From this film’s first images, the term ‘overpopulation’ takes on a very concrete and sadly inhuman dimension. For example, who could imagine that a man would dive practically naked into the sewers of a capital city of fifteen million inhabitants, amidst human excrement, to look for gold? That is the only work that Gazi knows. He is eaten by injuries and chemical products. He knows he is a condemned man. But it’s the only means he has of feeding his family and, most importantly, of giving his children the chance of escaping the fate of poverty. To cope with the hellish absurdity of everyday life, many turn to religion. One of the biggest Muslim pilgrimages in the world takes place each year in Bangladesh. Nearly five million pilgrims gather from all over the country to attend the event. Buses, boats and trains are besieged. Travelers swarm on the roofs, the axles or hang onto the windows. A tidal surge of people that is practically unmanageable in a country with an obsolete infrastructure. Seeing these barely believable images, one might wonder whether it is faith or self-denial that allows Bangladeshis to overcome the pitfalls of overpopulation and keep on smiling through.