The World of Apu
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Movie Reviews of The World of Apu
Movie Review: Emotionally strong and eloquent movie
Summary: 5 Stars
The third and final installment of Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy, it's about a young idealistic man who learns about reality and responsibility. Apu is a writer living (and starving) in Calcutta. With a friend he attends a wedding, but when the bridegroom goes insane, the wedding is called off. Apu, thinking he's doing a noble deed, marries the girl. Things between them look dubious at first, but they grow to love each other very much. When she dies in childbirth he sinks into deep depression and spends five years wandering around India like a hermit. But he has a son and though he thinks of abandoning him, he comes home finally to raise him. It's a very touching and moving film, and in it's quiet way, very emotional. Soumitra Chatterji is wonderful as Apu, and Sharmila Tagore is openly expressive as his wife. Seeing Apu with his son on his shoulders at the end of the movie is powerfully uplifting. One of the great movies in world cinema.
Movie Review: Essential
Summary: 5 Stars
The DVD release contains no extra features; the print quality is good; the movie is remarkable. Too bad Criterion didn't get the Apu Trilogy, but it is essential for film collectors nonetheless.Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 4 Stars
Apur Sansar is a film that delights in little things. In the beginning of the film Apu's apartment is a disheveled mess, like most bachelors'. But, within a few scenes of her appearance there, Aparna transforms it into a place where a woman calls home, by subtle decor. Yet, Ray never calls attention to this. It just happens naturally, and only an astute observer would notice; such as a scene where he is teaching her English, because that is the language that allows Bengalis to escape poverty. At other times, he lets romantic intimacy lead one to a change in Apu: there is a deft scene where Apu finds a hairpin between pillows, and then he sees his wife doing cleaning in a hallway, and tries to light a cigarette, only to find a note from her inside his cigarette pack stating that he promised to only smoke after eating. Later, a series of playful letters are exchange between the separated couple, when she is off to her parents' place to give birth. One can sense the delight and excitement Apu gets just from reading the words of his wife, even when interrupted by a co-worker or a man on a trolley. I doubt I've ever seen onscreen love portrayed so well without any physical affection nor intercourse shown. Yet this is just an extension of the great human interactions Ray captures. Earlier, in the first sequence with Pulu, we get a sense of the depth of their friendship when, after a night on the town, the two men are returning to Apu's apartment and walking along train tracks at night. They are arguing over women, literature, and the camera just pulls back and leaves the two friends in the midst of their personal comity. Then, after Aparna has died, and Apu is bedridden with grief, Apu is seemingly brought back to reality by the screech of a train whistle- the very thing that, within the bounds of the trilogy, symbolize some greater horizon for him. Yet, we soon see that it is not a call to life that has roused him, but he seems to now be standing on tracks, waiting to be run over, until we learn that the wail we hear, when the camera moves up and away from Apu (as if to let his end come without voyeurism, and foreshadowing a similar scene of pain heard on a payphone in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, where the camera looks away from the protagonist who is being dismissed on the phone, by a woman he desires), is that from a pig whose leg has been crushed, not Apu. Such cinematic poesy and mastery are grace notes that abound in Apur Sansar, and make it such a fabulous work of art; and one with many more moments of insight and depth than these few herein described..
Oftentimes critics confuse the terms major and great, as if they were synonyms. They are not. There are great works of art that are small chamber pieces: think Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Ingmar Bergman's The Silence, or Curse Of The Cat People. These films are gems, but contain large pieces of cosmic power in their small delineations. Then there are major films, that, while having good moments, and dealing with titanic dilemmas, miss greatness because they do not core deeply enough into things, despite their impact on the culture and their medium: think Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, or Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Then there are films that are both great and major, for they are technically, aesthetically, and intellectually great while having a major impact on the culture and cinema. These would be films like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho The Bailiff, and Taxi Driver. Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy- as a whole, or taken in bits, belongs to both classes.
Apur Sansar not only has meaning, but imparts meaning to its viewers, not just of its own internal realities, but those which communicate individually to the percipient. Only humans can bring or gift meaning, for only we can comprehend it. The greatest of artists know this; yet, paradoxically, because it can be so difficult, so few even try to impart it in what they claim as their art. Satyajit Ray had no such worries, and one only wishes more filmmakers followed his lead, one which Apur Sansur so splendidly embodies.
Movie Review: A Masterpiece of the Indian Cinema
Summary: 4 Stars
The Apu trilogy is compulsory viewing for whoever is seriously interested in foreign cinema. This is the touching story of Apu, an Indian boy, from small child to early adulthood. Every time I watch these movies I find myself glued to the screen. One of the most famous and respected Indian movie directors, Sayajit Ray succeeded to make of a simple story a lesson in life, wonderfully told through the movie medium.I recommend it highly. I gave it 4 stars only because they could have made a better job remastering the movies (video transfer and audio).
Movie Review: Well done but depressing
Summary: 3 Stars
I feel like an outsider on this site, surrounded by people who are Apu aficionados and love him from his two earlier films. I heard of this series and wanted to see it from the beginning, but the only one I found so far was this one, and I see that it is the third and final installment.
Some people simply don't enjoy sad movies. I see their point of view. They want to be happy. They don't want to be brought down by the troubles they are allowing into their lives through the film. I know, because I'm one of them.
Granted, it is a very well made movie, but the second half of it is enough to make you want to go look for that used razor blade behind the bathroom mirror and end it all. Knowing what I know, I don't want to find the first two Apu films. Enough is enough.
Apu is a young man in India, writing a novel. He must quit school before obtaining his college degree because he can't afford to continue his formal education. He cheerfully lives his life in Calcutta. He owes three months rent. His philosophy is that life is to be lived, never mind the poverty. He is part happy-go-lucky, part smart-ass. My apologies to those who love him from the first two movies, but that is how he struck me.
A beautiful young girl is about to marry a young man she has never met. The man is insane. The girl's mother calls the wedding off, over the objections of the girl's stupid, callous father. The family believes it is bad luck to cancel a wedding, and Apu is asked to substitute as the groom. Amazingly, he agrees.
The most enjoyable scenes in the movie are the scenes involving Apu and his bride. She gives up a life of ease to join him in a life of poverty. They love each other. They are funny and adorable together.
Then comes the turning point in the movie, during the darling bride's return trip home to visit with her family. This movie becomes like a bent stalk of corn, its top falling to the ground. This movie becomes like a cracked and smashed vase.
I really don't want to watch Apu drifting through life, waiting to be released by death. It reminds me too much of myself. I can do without that.
This is a well made movie, and Apu's wife is a treasure to watch.