About 5 hours later planes began taking off. We were second for take-off which I was happy about as I was willing to wait as long as it took considering this was a tiny airline in a Third World Country during abnormal weather conditions. But, the flight was perfect and short, 45 minutes later we were on the ground.
We get our bags and head out to the curb. Our driver has been waiting for 6 hours. After a few minutes of discussion I’m told we can’t go anywhere, the transport strike is active here too. So much for progress.
Two hours or so later, our driver thought it would be safe so off we went.
As we drove along the driver kept stopping oncoming cars and trucks and asking drivers if it was safe ahead. It seemed as though it was so we kept going. There was little traffic along the way, mostly motorized rickshaws which were permitted to operate during strikes. A few minutes later we arrived at the hotel without incident.
By mid-afternoon the strike had been called off so we went to look at the ship which is the subject of our film, Ronghdonu, formerly known as Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior.
Aside from and textiles factory fires Bangladesh is often known for thing, ship breaking. This is where the world’s largest ships come to die. And there are hundreds of them either needing to be destroyed or in the process of. Beached on shores or along the river’s edge. There have been countless stories done about ship breaking so I won’t go into that but will write that the sheer number of ships on the water and along the banks is astounding.
Anywho, back to why we’re in Chittagong. The new life of the Rainbow Warrior. Seeing her from the water she didn’t seem like such a big deal, but once you start to get closer you begin to imagine the amazing situations she was put it fighting for the environment. And, once aboard, some of the Greenpeace artifacts like the crunchie-hippie stickers and whale paintings on the walls below deck help you imagine a few of the details of her adventures. You look up at the enormous sailing masts that help navigate the environmentally-friendly ship around the world and marvel at all she could have seen. Loftiness aside, she’s a bitchin’ ship.
The next day we learned there would be another all-day strike or hartal as they are known here. This time it was not on a day we were flying but it was on the day we had coordinated very important interviews out on the ship. We had to get there early and make sure to leave enough time for our driver to make it home to safety. These situations can become incredibly volatile. In the capital, Dhaka, a young man was chased and beaten with a tire rod by five men who supported the strike as onlookers watched. The entire scene — including the chase — was caught on video (Google it, I’m not linking to it here).
The other issue we were facing was the weather. The fog had come back and each day it was worse. That would make it impossible to shoot out on the water and possibly make an issue of getting to the boat itself. But, that was still a few days away.
Moving on. The actual city of Chittagong is a lot more manageable than Dhaka but still chaotic. It is a city of almost 6 million people. Historically, it’s a center of trade and commerce where they actually speak a different Bengali dialect called Chittagonian. In this clip, the sun and mist set.
The markets here are teeming with spices, jute, wares and seafood. One evening we were shooting a few street scenes in a very crowded part of town and came across an amazing covered fish market. Dozens of stands with every kind of fish you could think of. It was beautifully lit with little lamps and streak of light coming through the makeshift roof and the sellers were incredibly friendly. In fact, almost too much so, they wouldn’t stop looking at the lens and holding fish up for me to shoot.
While out on the ship I was chatting with the shipmaster — an incredibly well-read older Pakistani man– who told me an interesting anecdote. The man who was in charge of the French bombing of the first Rainbow Warrior out of the consulate in Wellington, New Zealand way back in 1985 actually came to the handover of the Rainbow Warrior II to Friendship. He is a friend of Runa Khan’s husband who is a French sailor. It is incredible how things change, one day you are directly involved in destroying Rainbow Warrior (A Greenpeace photographer died in the bombing) and the next you are witnessing and celebrating Rainbow Warrior II enter into a new stage.
Next, the final entry: The woman behind it all…