Pather Panchali
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Movie Reviews of Pather Panchali
Movie Review: Great
Summary: 5 Stars
Somewhere between the Oriental placidity of a great Yasujiro Ozu film and the harsh reality of a great Vittorio De Sica film lies the world of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, the first of his Apu Trilogy of films. And in case there was any doubt, that place is a very, very good one for any filmmaker to be, for the two aforementioned filmmakers were masters of their own sorts of films, and- if this one, and first, film of Ray's is an indication, the same plaudits can be ascribed to Ray, a former advertising firm's employee who struck out on his own to raise Indian cinema from the melodramatic doldrums it had been in since its creation.
This almost two hour long black and white film, made in 1955, was not only Ray's debut in the medium, but the first `serious' film in Indian history- at least that made by an Indian. It is no surprise that Ray, a Bengali, made his film in his part of India- funded by the provincial government of West Bengal, away from the more commercial films of what would later be called Bollywood. The film's English subtitle is Song Of The Little Road, but this is a bit of a nonsequitur since the film is based on a novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, and the only road with any prominence in the film is a recurring hagiography of a local set of railroad tracks. Some websites claim that the title connotes the subtitle, and that Pather, in Bengali, means of a path, and Panchali means a kind of Bengal song; however, other sites and critics dispute this claim. The tale is set in the early 20th Century, although the film never specifies a date- at least not in the white English subtitles of the Artificial Eye DVD The Apu Trilogy three pack, which includes the other two films, as well: Aparajito and The World Of Apu.
Like the Italian Neo-Realist films of De Sica, Ray relied on an excellent script (adapted by Ray, from the novel) and amateur actors, for the most part, to pull the film off. A low budget made `big' scenes an impossibility, but Ray shows off, in this film, some nice touches with the camera that cost nothing but a few minutes of cogitation. These skills all led to international praise of the film in many quarters, and a special award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
The plot of the tale is rather simple, and easily conveyed, but this film is a great example of how merely recapitulating or summing up a plot utterly does an injustice to the deeper and greater story....Pather Panchali is a truly great film; it is not only a classic of its native land, but of the very art form of film. And, as mentioned, it not only derives its power from Italian Neo-Realism, but also from the diurnal do of Yasujiro Ozu's films. Ozu is another filmmaker who has been criticized as dull and tedious, but both men are keen observers of their fictive worlds. In those realms the flicker of an eyebrow can have greater consequence than an army brigade's assault on an enemy. Yet, to the viewer not yet weaned off of the Lowest Common Denominator, such moments are not even noticed. I only wish that Satyajit Ray, who died in 1992, was still around to know that his film was yet influencing more people in the positive way all great art does, but realize, as he surely did, that he need not be, for great art always and eventually fills out the places the human body gives way to. In watching Pather Panchali, one gets a sense of Satyajit Ray, as he was. Go know him.
Movie Review: A Movie of Haunting Images
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this DVD off Amazon.com because I had seen its' name pop up over the years as one of the best movies of all time. I am not going to promote nor challenge that reputation. I found it to be an outstanding movie worthy of its' praise but be mindful that this is no "Citizen Kane", "The Godfather", nor "Lawrence of the Arabia". This is because, for most of the film, it does not appear to have a plot. What we get are seemingly the scenes of life in a rural Bengali household at some point in time in the first half of the 20th Century. For awhile, we keep waiting for things to "happen" while gradually taking note of the different lifestyles and the various personalities that we see on the screen. Eventually, and unfortunately, things later DO happen and, by the time they do, we have become intimately attached to the family we have been watching. I will not go into detail as to the events but I do want to say that I was deeply moved and I know that there are scenes in this movie that will always pull on my heart strings. The reason for the impact, I realized, was in the brilliance of the cinematic presentation. Although only his first movie, the director, Satyajit Ray, shows a masterful ability to create visual images that convey deep meanings. There are scenes of love and grief that are among the most powerful I've ever seen. There are subtle incidents and images that tell us vollumes about the characters and events.
I know that India has a significant film industry and has had for years but I don't believe I've ever seen an "Indian" movie before. One of the things that impressed me the most about the movie was the quality of the acting. There is an elderly women referred to as "Auntie" who has to be seen to be believed. She is the image of a broken-down old woman and she would have stolen the spotlight in any other movie (and often does in this one). However, there is enough other talent to keep our attention moving around. The daughter, Durga, is quite memorable as is Apu. The father is a bit odd but that is the image I believe he was meant to convey. It is the mother, whose name escapes me, that leaves the greatest impression. She is a woman who feels that she was meant to live a better life but struggles everyday to make the most of what she has. She is the strength of the family yet she has obvious faults. Bad luck haunts her all the way but, though she complains, she will not give up.
I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a brilliantly depiction of a family's struggle with life itself. I do not recommend the movie to those who don't particularly care to get emotionally involved with a movie's characters. If you have seen and enjoyed "Tokyo Story" you do not want to miss "Pather Panchali".
Movie Review: Loss, Love, and Redemption
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm sorry to see that as if this date Amazon has no copies of this film for sale. I hope this is temporary. It would be a shame if this film were not made available for people to own.
I have all three DVDs of the Apu trilogy. This, the first in the trilogy, is the best one, I think. Three of the major themes are the irrevocable nature of loss, the power of human love, and the simple but powerful ways we experience redemption.
Many reviews focus on the title character, Apu, yet this is also a powerful portrayal of various phases of women's lives: maiden, mother, and crone, if you will. Durga, the maiden, is often described as a petty thief, yet her acts often seem heroic to me and serve to underscore the pettiness and selfishness of her neighbors. Why should Durga have to steal guavas from the land that used to belong to her father? Why can't the neighbors share?
As for stealing the beads, Durga's desire for something pretty, while not so heroic, is perfectly understandable when one realizes how little Durga is appreciated in a family that dotes on Apu, the boy. Yet there are no villains in this film. All characters are fully rounded. The mother, who often seems cruel, is also a sympathetic character who tries to keep her pride in tact while descending deeper into poverty all the time.
The grandmother is, to me, the best character of the bunch. She's as mysterious as she is mischevious. The petty bickering between Durga's mother and grandmother doesn't show an absence of love but results from the pressures of day to day survival. The women, in fact, are woven into the same tapestry of life. In one brilliant shot, the mother is shown holding her weary back while the grandmother, bent from years of hardship and work, shuffles in the background. Life is hard and the inevitability of old age is just around the corner. How is one's hard work and sacrifice repaid? Are we destined to end up like Durga's grandmother, whom nobody seems to want? Nobody, save Durga, who has a pure heart and shows her love by bringing lovingly her hungry grandmother stolen guavas.
The people and situations are never sentimentalized, not even the death of the grandmother, whose body is discovered by Durga and Apu.
Yes, this is the story of Apu, a young boy, but it's also the story of the three main phases of women's lives. This film is rich visually and is one the viewer will think about for a long time. One of my all-time favorite films. PATHER PANCHALI is the best of the three, but THE WORLD OF APU doesn't miss this distinction by much.
Movie Review: Charity at home
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the greatest films ever made, this stunning 1955 film was the great Satyajit's Ray's first full-length work, and remains the benchmark for all the great films that followed. The film is slow paced and keeps entirely to the outskirts of one village in Bengal, but the characters are so rich and their problems so absorbing that you become entirely lost in their world. The story centers almost entirely upon one family headed by a scholarly, likable man who has returned to his crumbling family homestead from Benares (Varanasi) to raise his children with his wife. They have two children, the dreamy Durga and the always alert Apu, whom they can barely manage to feed; complicating matters is their octogenarian "Auntie" (the amazing Chunilbali Devi), who eats up her share of the meals and who tries to retain some sense of dignity about her despite the fights she has with the wife. The film is mostly about how a tiny community cares for each other--how food is shared among them despite its preciousness as a commodity, and the cruelties they can visit upon one another when driven by ego or shame and also the incredible generosities they are capable of when calamities strike. All the actors are great, but special commendation must be given to Karuna Bannerjee who manages to make the forever-nagging and hard-suffering mother seem so fundamentally decent. The sequence of Durga and Apu playing in the waving flax near some power lines and a railway line, which suggest a world of modernity beyond their own, is unforgettable, as is the famous sequence of the waterbugs skimming along after the rains following the wife's receipt of some very welcome news. This is one of the greatest films I have ever seen, and deserves to always be readily available.Movie Review: Good for Fat Americans to See
Summary: 5 Stars
This one reminded me of another great Asian film, Tokyo Story. Of course, this film takes place in India in 1919, so it is of the early 20th century while Tokyo Story covered emerging Japan in the early 1950's. But India in 1919 was poor and surely nothing has changed. The contrast between the emerging Japan and Satyajit Ray's impoverished Brahmans is quite stark except for the slow interplay and paced crisis in the screenplays. The gradual destruction of the little boy Apu's family unfolds step-by-step delivering pathos, simple pleasures, the loneliness, sickness, and death of a loved one. Modern audiences will have trouble sitting there as this unfolds, but it is worth it.
Black and white photography has its fans, and the cinematography of Pather Panchali is fascinating. The bamboo forests, the rice patties, the lakes full of wildlife are photographed. The people seem to weave between this nature and we can only imagine the Indian landscape in shocking color. This is both strength and a weakness. I wanted to see the colors, but alas.
The acting is nothing less than scary in this movie. The old woman on her last legs was unbelievable. There's no Hollywood casting that could have produced her. The children were charming, the parents suffering, knowing. Amazing. I'll have to see the rest of the Abu trilogy.