The Apu Trilogy

Pather Panchali (1955), directed by Satyajit Ray. We have recently watched a couple of late films by Ray, including his final film, The Stranger. These films have prompted us to revisit his early films, and last evening we watched his first film, Pather Panchali. This film has received both accolades and criticism over the years, including a negative response by none other than Francois Truffaut. However, it remains a stunning first film. It took Ray three years to make because of problems finding funding. The result is a film of poetic beauty that shows a deep reverence for humanity. The film focuses on children, adults, and the elderly presenting each with delicacy and understanding. The old aunt moves slowly and with obvious pain, her body emaciated and bent. Yet she shows spunk and determination. The adults deal with problems of raising a family in dire poverty. The children, the girl Durga and her young brother Apu, often focalize the action and their world is a world of wonder, fear, buoyancy, curiosity, experiment, rebellion, and the vulnerabilities of innocence. In Ray's final film, the stranger speaks of the attractions of living in the forest, living a simple life on the land. In Pather Panchali we see that such living is not all simplicity and relaxation. This is a life of hardship and anxiety. Mortality is just around the corner, and it touches both the old and the young. Nature is both beautiful and nurturing and terrible and destructive. Instrumental in Ray's making of the film is the film maker, Jean Renoir who encouraged Ray, and whose films at times deal with similar themes. Also influential is de Sica's Bicycle Thieves in its realism and sympathy for those who struggle for subsistence.

Aparajito (Unvanquished) (1956), directed by Satyajit Ray. This is the second film in the Apu trilogy, and it follows young Apu as he enters school and proceeds later to college in Calcutta. During the time this film encapsulates, Apu experiences life in the city and his father's untimely death. Then he grows into a young man with hopes of leaving home for future study. He does leave and enters college in an even bigger city. Here he meets a friend, finds work in a local press, and studies for his exams. While away from home, Apu writes, but not often, to his mother. She longs for his return, but he remains steadfast in his quest for a different future from the one his father and mother had cast for him. This film is somewhat slower than the first Apu film, but no less poetic. Shots of the father and mother's passings captured delicately in the flight of birds or the swirling of fireflies are "pure cinema." We may encounter a culture that differs from ours, but we have no difficulty understanding the human emotions the characters express. This is a deeply felt film.

The World of Apu (1959), directed by Satyajit Ray. This is the final film in the Apu trilogy and it sees Apu in his early adult years, alone in a rented room in Calcutta, eeking out his existence by tutoring now and then. He is also trying to complete a novel. His rent is overdue and he struggles to get along until a friend from school turns up and asks him to accompany him to his uncle's home in the country for his cousin's marriage. Apu makes the trip. He returns from this trip with a new wife and a job as a clerk! How did this transpire? Perhaps I will not explain because you might like to see the film for yourself. Anyway, young Apu finds himself a married man, something he had not reckoned on. But he adapts well and develops deep affection for his young bride. She also has to adapt to circumstances she had not foreseen. The two get along well and she becomes pregnant. Then she dies in childbirth, and Abu is devastated. He leaves his young son with the bride's family and begins a wandering life. The film does not stop here, but I will, but not before noting that Apu tosses his novel away (a terrible moment). Once again we have Ray's deep affection for humanity. Scenes unfold slowly and emotions are always clear and compelling. We have splendid tracking shots and lovely close-ups. We get a sense of life lived intensely and in densely populated places. Life is not easy, it has its surprises and its ups and downs (lots of downs), but in the end we have some hope, some promise that life goes on and human relationships are what matter.