A fifth by Ray.

The Stranger (1991), directed by Satyajit Ray. This is Ray's final film; he died in 1992. The film tells the story of a long-lost uncle who returns to meet his niece after a 35 year absence. He has been out of communication with any family members since 1968, 32 years ago. He arrives on his niece's doorstep a few days after the niece has received a letter announcing his return. The niece has no memory of this uncle, and her husband is sceptical that this person is, in fact, her uncle. Once he arrives the family make several efforts to establish whether this stranger is truly the person he claims to be. Much of the action takes place in the family's living room where a selection of family friends comes to test the new arrival, and these tests become occasions for reflections on the nature of civilization, identity, politics, the class system, materialism, and so on. We might be reminded that the philosopher is often, if not always, a stranger to others. Ray's characters are attractive in their puzzlement, their humour, their humanity. Perhaps the key to these characters is the young son, Satyaki, whose openness, innocence, and desire to learn give him a special relationship with the Stranger. This is a quiet, yet intense film that suggests the simple "forest life" is the good life, and that all the so-called civilized values devolve into warfare, division, and an unfair separation of peoples into haves and have-nots. The final scene in the country brings Ray back to the world of his Apu trilogy made over thirty years before The Stranger. Told with delicacy and gentleness, this is a story for our times. I might add that the colours in this film are dazzling.