The World of Apu
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Movie Reviews of The World of Apu
Movie Review: Apu Faces the Realities of Existence and Finds Love
Summary: 5 Stars
In Pather Panchali and Aparajito we watch Apu grow into manhood all while he seems to be very unaware of the exotic Indian women swirling about him in all their beauty. This contributes to the subtle humor when he finds himself in a situation where he must save a family's honor.
Apu's ancestral family home has been destroyed; he has lost his sister, father and mother and is now living alone next to a noisy railway. As he faces the realities of existence, he spends his time reading, playing a wooden flute and occasionally looking for work. His job prospects are disheartening at best. His optimism is reminiscent of his father's attitude to life and he is also becoming a writer. His beauty and artistic carefree spirit is always in danger of being funneled into a life of quiet desperation.
After reuniting with his childhood friend Pulu (Swapan Mukherjee), Apu attends a wedding in which he ends up having to make decisions that changes the entire course of his life. Aparna (Sharmila Tagore) and Apu fall in love and yet can we hope that Apu has found true happiness? All hopes are soon dashed as the unthinkable occurs.
As Apu dreams of publishing his own novel, his life plays out a story of impending doom. The scene where he lifts a child from a location close to a railroad is a foreshadowing of an event that soon takes place in his own life. Finally life throws him a challenge he is not willing to face. It takes times for Apu to process the tragedy in his life and finally he is overwhelmed by grief.
Although this movie is filled with tragedy, there are moments of humor. Apu's casual defiance when he turns on the lights amused me because I'm always turning on lights and my husband is always turning them off. You will find yourself laughing at various moments throughout the Apu Trilogy.
The World of Apu is best watched after viewing Pather Panchali and Aparajito. After watching all three movies I tried to sleep for a few hours and awoke with words racing through my mind. The Apu Trilogy immerses your mind in a world of contemplation and I could not help thinking that Apu was on some journey towards enlightenment. Through his suffering he learned more than he could have ever learned through a life of leisure. Throughout Apu's life he continues to show an almost undaunted optimism and in the end he exchanges the fantasy for the reality.
~The Rebecca Review
Movie Review: Profound conclusion as Apu becomes a man
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have gone this far as to view all of Apu trilogy, you may have gathered some insight into the work of internationally known director Satyajit Ray who died in 1992. Born into a family of intellectuals, he was passionate about film at a young age and inspired by the greatest of directors, including neorealism filmmaking of Vitorrio de Sica.
Ray explored human relationships from various angles; use of some non-actors, on-location, and use of little dialogue. Ray is said to have known what the face of his characters would look like before the actor/nonactor was hired. His trait was to scour for those memorable faces. Another aspect of Ray's is the varying themes encompassed in the nearly 40 films, documentaries and short stories. Themes dealt with life and death; traditional vs. modern values; villages vs city; tragedy, fantasy vs. reality, youth vs. aging; etc.
The World of Apu, (1959) named best foreign film of 1960 is the third of a trilogy, and focuses on Apu, now a man, writer, husband and father. If you have not seen the other two, do so before this one. "Pather Panchali" begins with his birth while "Aparajito" follows him through his education and further family hardships. Although the films were made in the mid-to-late 50s, the earliest depicts the mid 20s.
Apu is forced to abandon his education. By chance, he marries a beautiful woman, Aparna, who was cursed on her wedding day because her family would not allow her to marry her intended groom. He is either insane or with some retardation. Apu reluctantly marries her and falls deeply in love with her and she lives with him in his shabby existence.
She leaves for her homeland to give birth to a son and Apu is absent for the birth. She dies and for 5 years, he blames and rejects the child because of her death.
It is here that Apu makes a decision of live, to harbor feelings on the love he lost, or his desire or willingness to re-gain a son he blamed for Aparna's death.
To enjoy the depth of Apu's world, see the first two films of this trilogy, and if you embody foreign film by acclaimed filmmakers, you may feel the need to learn more about Satyajit Ray, because, sadly, the DVD has no commentary on the film. .....Rizzo
Movie Review: The final experience!
Summary: 5 Stars
The last Opus of Satyajit Ray conforms together with the other two entries, a memorable and historical achievement in cinema `s story. Satyajit' s clever employment of the camera as a vehicle to express unsaid expressions, feelings and inner motivations is simply inimitable.
We are in front of one of the truest giants of this art, so mischievously used roughly in the actuality. Specially if we take into account the herald in what concerns to the expressive possibilities of the camera as an eye to scrutinize emotions or livings, was precisely, forgotten Titan, the unforgettable D.W. Griffith, one of filmmakers who influenced with major punch to Ray in his early youth.
After having lost his mother, Apu must undertake by himself, the demanded journey, he leaves his town and to make his dreams come true. But as we know, the life has by far a bigger imagination than us, and a apparently good action in order to avoid a familiar disgrace, he will open the great gate of the experience.
Plenty of poetic images, ravishing landscapes and a very touching script, Apu at last will understand what books can not offer; the experience by itself, and that will be a very rewarding living lesson.
If you really love the cinema, you should try to get this Trilogy, because these three films are included in any prestigious list of expert connoisseurs and specialized critics.
An authentic landmark.
Movie Review: The Indian Culture Will Sweep You Away!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thanks to a pristine Indian audience, Satyrajit Ray (1921-92) created a trilogy where a ballet-like adagio becomes an art. In this, the 1959 epilogue of our hero Apu's coming of age, Apu is swept away by misfortune, and allows ethical decisions to be made for him. Perhaps paralleling the pacifist role India has played throughout her long life, Apu permits himself to become betrothed to a woman whose fiance is unfit for marriage. Apu steps in and accepts the challenge. Why not? He is at a standstill in his writing career and feels like a poverty-stricken failure with a beautiful face.
His new bride is not only sublimely gorgeous, with those big eyes the filmmaker Ray lovingly caresses, but she comes from incomparable wealth. Their arranged marriage becomes a temple of love, told tenderly with nary a touch between them. Echoing their temporary paradise the camera lingers on grassy landscapes of rural India, while Ravi Shankar's haunting sitar music flows in the background.
In the final scene, the couple's son, a 5-year-old, as playful, mischievous (he throws rocks) and inquisitive as his own father, rides Apu's shoulders in victory. Triumph shines over the appalling take-us-by surprise tragedies that pierce the film. The joyful moment of father and son striding confidently into the Big City reinforces the name and motif of the trilogy: The Unvanquished.
Movie Review: fantastic film!
Summary: 5 Stars
THE WORLD OF APU is the third in the "Apu Trilogy," by the late, great Indian filmmaker, Satyajit Ray.
This film follows the title character, Apu, as a young, un-employed writer (Soumitra Chatterjee), who is searching for work, all the while aspiring to write his first novel. Pulu (Swapan Mukherjee), Apu's best friend from secondary school, has a beautiful young cousin, Aparna (Shamila Tagore), who is engaged to be married. Pulu invites Apu to attend the wedding, only to discover the day of the ceremony that the groom is a madman. Apu is asked to marry the bride, since the wedding day is auspicious and if she doesn't get married at the decided day and time, she is destined to have a life filled with bad luck and unhappiness. Though Apu has never even been in a relationship with a woman, he agrees to marry Aparna to do (as he says) "the honorable thing."
This film takes a look at Apu, his life's struggles and hard deck of cards that life has cast his way. I don't want to ruin the plot details, so I won't elaborate. I will say that the performances are beautiful and the story is wonderfully told. It is at once heartbreaking and inspiring. Highly reccomended......