The film begins with children going to school early in the morning. follows the everyday poor yet peaceful family with many children. The same old days go by, and just you begin wonder if this is a fictional film or an ethnographical documentary, something happens family. One of the children, Shantha, insists on going to college, even when the family already having hard time trying to prepare for the eldest daughter′s dowry. The ambitious Shantha′s negligence her family′s economic difficulties and self-centeredness drive her mother attempt suicide, making her family suffer more. The film′s approach to the lives of Indians forced to relocate the rubber plantations in Malaysia in the 1960s and 1970s is reminiscent of Neo-Realism the way sketches the everyday lives of the Indians in deep-focused long shots with extremely controlled camerawork and restrained storytelling. The first Indian-language film made Malaysia where only Malaysian language films can receive sufficient funding, The Gravel Road leads us realize how beautiful to live by our own will and to survive the everyday hardships with unchanging faith. Also amazing the director′s talent to grasp the power of simplicity. (Michelle Sohn)