Seemab Gul’s Ghost School is an outstanding debut feature

With gorgeous cinematography and keen direction from director Seemab Gul’s debut feature, Ghost School shows remarkable strength and film-making talent.

The Urdu-language feature, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, follows the journey of 10-year old Rabia (an outstanding performance from child actress Nazualiya Arsalan) who undertakes the journey of uncovering the mystery behind “ghost school” phenomenon in Pakistan after her school is abruptly shut down. The exploration takes place through the pure and curious lens of a young girl who above-all wants to go back to school.

Ghost schools are institutions that exist on paper, or that are physically present, but are functionally non-operational. In reality, the culprit behind these ghost schools is a wide net of unregulated corruption, fuelled by the theft of government funding meant for these institutions. Studies have found more than 11,000 ghost schools in the Sindh province of Pakistan alone. The result is chronically underfunded education, and a sharp distrust of government systems as highlighted in the Gul’s debut feature.

The film delicately showcases the lifestyles and values of a rural community and the distrust, fear, and fatigue they feel towards trying to achieve meaningful change in the face of corruption. Some turn to folklore to explain away the cyclical corruption; others simply have the status to get around it. The film doesn’t look down on those who turn to local superstition, believing that a jinn has possessed Rabia’s teacher and is haunting the school, and ultimately shows the cascading cycle of effects that take place when education is underfunded or undervalued.

Corruption thrives off of the lack of education in these communities, but who bears most of the weight?

Children who must help their parents read or write, youth who cannot afford the private schools in bigger cities, and young girls deemed unfit for the public religious boys schools. 

The disappointment and determination fuelling Rabia to uncover the mystery behind her school’s closure is the heart of the film. Arsalan keeps this heart beating, with her candid and patient performance. Arsalan fully embodies the curiosity and determination of children. In fact, most of Rabia’s dialogue is her asking questions to the adults of the film, all of who give conflicting reasons and context clues for her school’s abrupt shutdown.

Why is the school closed?

Why can’t it be reopened with a new teacher?

What happened that led to the chronic distrust of the district commissioner?

Why won’t anyone do something about this?

In most cases the adults give the most earnest answers they can, after initially patronizing Rabia for being out of her depth. Over the course of a single day, it becomes more and more clear that jinns are not the culprits.

The gentle and colorful backdrop of a bustling small village in Karachi combined with the multiple long single-camera shots keep Rabia’s childlike curiosity consistently in focus.

One shot has Rabia and her school’s former security guard talking about his own education history and the hope he has for the future as they walk maybe 150 meters away from the camera before breaking off into different paths at a fork the the road, and the shot continues as they divide. The simplicity and beauty of these shots cannot be understated, and provides for such a youthful and earnest portrayal of what the conversation must feel like from the eyes of a ten-year old.

The eerie shots and sound design that take place during the near final act where Rabia takes it upon herself to see if her school is really haunted completes the portrait of fear that’s taken root of the village.

The courageous act is followed by a devastating emotional climax, in which Arsalan’s performance truly comes to life. The determination, fear, confusion and just general youthfulness of emotion displayed is one of the best performances from a child actor this year.

Ultimately the film thrives off of Rabia’s hope, Gul’s direction ensures that the solution still feels like it may be in reach, and Arsalan’s dedication keeps Rabia’s hope alive.

Arsalan is a consistently impressive, determined, and strong young actress and brings Gul’s utterly remarkable debut script alive. The addition of calm and occasionally eerie folk music deepens the emotion behind Rabia’s quest to discover the truth.