Boong Movie Review: The Remains of a War

A little boy (Gugun Kipgen ) wants to give his hard working mother a gift, bringing his father home from the border town of Moreh where he went on business. There is tension in Manipur, but he has a friend, a Marwari boy teased for being an outsider, willing to help him. The boys go off on in an adventure in a film that raises difficult questions with a light touch. Who is an outsider and where?

What is a border? Why is it easier to go to Myanmar, with a `20 fee and an Aaadhar card, than it is to go to Delhi? Who protects and who attacks? The jibes at Manipuris in the mainland are also hurled at mainlanders in Manipuri, with a difference of vocabulary. The security forces who keep the fragile peace in the state are as lost as the people. Living in a conflict zone has never looked so convincing, with no side painted as the enemy. Kipgen is outstanding as Boong. So is Bala Hijam Ningthoujam as his mother Mandakini, left behind to gather the pieces of a war without end. The multiplicity of identities we wear and the invisible burdens we carry are dealt with grace and dignity. It is not surprising that the film won the 2026 BAFTA for Best Children’s and Family Film.