What starts out as a profile of filmmaker Hoover's best pal turns into a remarkable journey into the human soul. Not only does Hoover witness something unexpected, but his own life is changed forever by the experience. And the film is beautifully shot and edited to make the story powerfully compelling.
After living in India for three years, Rocky comes home to Pittsburgh a changed man. He had to return to America to sort out his visa, and realizes that he simply can't fit in there anymore. So Steve decides to return to India with him and see what his life is about. Rocky now lives in rural India and works an Aids refuge populated by HIV-positive women and children. Steve is a bit unnerved by how Rocky has no barriers with these kids: he is now their brother. And they are his whole life.
Hoover's perceptive camera catches tiny details of life both in America and India, putting scenes into sharp perspective. And as he documents Rocky's interaction with these children, who are often dangerously unwell, his camera refuses to cut away. This makes the film transcend the documentary format, because it shows us the truth we would rather not see. A dying child is unbearable for us to watch; we want to run away. And yet there is Rocky, diving into action to help.
Hoover also captures Rocky's goofy antics, moments of deep doubt and the steely resistance we see him struggling to overcome in order to help people. Even his courtship with that girl doesn't go as planned, forcing Rocky to consider the reality that he's also marrying India itself.
Aside from really great photography, the film's real strength is in the way it confronts us with our own life choices. Rocky has decided to live an almost shockingly non-Western life in a very difficult place, simply because it has more meaning than the empty pursuit of money and things back home. And even if this comes from his religious convictions, his satisfaction even in darker moments inspires us even more than the selfless work he does every day.
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