Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Imagine for a moment that a twenty-nine year old commercial artist living in Calcutta decides out of the blue that he’d like to make a movie based on a complex multi-volume novel. He has no money, no connections, and few resources of any kind. He teams up with a still photographer who has never previously operated a motion picture camera. They borrow a 16 mm motion picture camera. They choose a bunch of children with no acting experience without so much as conducting screen tests. For one of the adult leads, they find an eighty year-old hunched-over wreck of a woman who had done some acting decades earlier but who is presently living in a brothel. (She initially thinks they’ve come looking for sexual services!) They enlist the services of an unknown solo musician to provide the musical score. The script involves precious little in the way of a plot, providing instead mainly a stark portrayal of abject poverty. Two of the five main characters die over the course of the film. How would you rate the chances of success for such a project? I know . . . not good!
Now, consider that the resultant film went on to win the top prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 1956. It revolutionized filmmaking in its country of origin – India. It has impacted many filmmakers throughout the world by its intimate and poetic portrayal of the simplicities of daily living. It is widely regarded by filmmakers and critics as an unqualified masterpiece.
These are the facts of the case for Satyajit Ray’s debut film Pather Panchali (which translates as “The Song of the Little Road”) filmed between 1950 and 1954 in India. The initial footage filmed with Ray’s own meager resources was so impressive that the Indian government was encouraged to finance the remainder of the shoot. Pather Panchali became the first segment of the so-called “Apu Trilogy.” Together with Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959), it comprises an adaptation of a famous serial novel by Bibhuti Banerjee about the childhood, teen years, and early adulthood of Apu. It is a story of struggle and triumph under conditions of poverty and devastating personal loses. Ray (1921 -1992) clearly ranks among the greatest film directors of the world. His work probably reached its pinnacle with the masterful film Charulata.
The Story:Pather Panchali is set in the Bengali village of Nishchindipur in the 1920’s. The village is the ancestral home of Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee), the father of an impoverished rural family. Harihar is a scholarly dreamer who writes plays and ekes out a meager living as a priest and a poet for local landowners. He is a rather poor provider, partly because he is easily exploited and unable to stand up for himself or his family. He permitted his neighbors to claim the orchard that once belonged to his family as payment for debts that his deceased brother had incurred. When his wages are overdue for two months, he cannot muster the assertiveness to ask his employer about payment despite his family having little food and his house being badly in need of repairs. His favorite saying reflects his resigned approach to life: “Whatever God does is for the best.”
His wife’s focus is far more practical. Sarbojaya (Karuna Bannerjee) frets as she struggles to make ends meet. She is understandably careworn because she must bear all of the responsibility for the welfare of their two children, Durga and Apu, as well as an elderly aunt. She bears the brunt of unflattering gossip that blames her for Durga’s propensity for stealing mangoes and guava from the neighbor’s orchard. With too little food for her children, Sarbojaya resents having to share her home with the elderly and fragile Auntie Indir. She blames Auntie for spoiling Durga and encouraging her thefts of the fruit.
Auntie Indir (Chunibala Devi) is downright ancient. She is bent over at almost a ninety degree angle when she walks. She is a toothless old hag and the kind of realistic depiction of the very elderly that Hollywood shuns. Periodically, Auntie takes refuge in the home of another relative when Sarbojaya forces her out or becomes overly abusive. On such occasions she arrives unceremoniously at her new residence with all of her possessions – which consist of a single bowl and the clothes on her back.
Pather Panchali is really more about Durga (Uma Das Gupta) than Apu. Durga is an adorable and rambunctious girl. She shares the fruit from the neighbor’s orchard with Auntie, with whom she feels some natural affinity. Durga must endure the humiliation of being the “poor girl” in the neighborhood and longs for the opportunities that her friends enjoy. She steals a beaded necklace from one girl who is unwilling to let her string any of the beads.
Apu (Chunibala Devi) in this first segment of the trilogy is mainly an observer. What we see in this film is mainly the experiences that shaped him as a young boy rather than experiences that he shaped. Durga and Apu have a relationship that is typical of an older sister and a younger brother. She teases him but is also affectionate. He “borrows” an item from her toy box and flees from her when she tries to recover it. They share simple joys together such as sitting quietly under a tree, walking some distance through a grassy field to see a steam train as it passes by, running after the candy man who passes through ringing his bells much like an ice cream truck in a suburban neighborhood in America, viewing pictures of great sights like Bombay harbor in a special viewing device carried by a traveling vender, and watching a traveling acting troupe that has come to town.
Harihar is having difficulty finding work locally and must travel to nearby cities in order to earn the money that will be required to repair their home. During his absence, he seldom writes and the family sinks ever deeper into poverty. All together, Harihar is absent for about half of the film's length. Sarbojaya grows increasingly lonely and embittered as her struggles multiply.
Monsoon season approaches and storm clouds gather. The monsoons bring pounding, penetrating rain with powerful wind gusts. During one downpour, Durga dances playfully and joyously about in the rain, getting herself soaked but catching her death of cold. She develops a fever and is unable to shake it. The medical care available to them is very poor. In a stunningly-filmed and heart-wrenching scene, Durga dies as the monsoon continues to shake their little house to its foundation, threatening to blow off the curtain that covers their window and to blow in the door.
Harihar finally returns home to discover that he has lost much more than he has earned during his absence. A big piece of the heart has been torn out of this poor family and they decide to pack up their meager belongings and begin a new life in the city of Benaras, where Harihar may be able to find work. As they pack, Apu finds the necklace that Durga had earlier stolen (though she denied it) and throws it into a pond as if to preserve Durga’s memory from any belated taint. The algae on the pond’s surface briefly spreads as the necklace passes through, then closes up as though it had just swallowed the necklace and, symbolically, Durga’s life. The film ends with Apu and his parents riding slowly off in an ox-cart to their new destination.
Themes:Pather Panchali accomplishes something that great films achieve: it finds the core of universal truths and human feelings while telling its plaintive tale in a culturally specific context. This film captures what appears to me, as an outsider, to be the essence of life in India. It is about the struggles and deprivations related to poverty and death of loved ones.
Western viewers can’t help but be struck by how different philosophical and psychological perspectives are in India versus Europe and America. The merits in comparing the two are not all on one side or the other. Compared to most men in America, Harihar is more introspective and spiritual but less pragmatic. He is an idealist in both the best and worst senses. He cares more about his own spiritual well-being than his family’s welfare. It is evident, however, that the luxury of focusing on the spiritual domain belongs mainly to the men in India. It is a social order where sexism is rampant both in childhood and adulthood. When Apu is born, the relatives weep with joy, as much for the reason that he is a boy as for his health or that of the mother. Apu attends school but Durga is told that her place is at home, learning to cook and do chores. Harihar is privileged to indulge his artistic conceits but all the responsibility for ensuring daily survival falls to Sarbojaya.
Production Values: Ray has created for this film a highly personal and intimate world that fully engages the viewer. The drama lies in the struggles of a lovely family beset by poverty. Rather than distracting us with events comprising a plot, Ray presents us with the happenstances and the deliberate rhythm of the life of these people. You’ll feel that you’ve become part of this family and are living in their culture.
To accomplish this, Ray uses an almost phlegmatic pace, which is ideal for the poetic mood of this film. Among the reviews I read, the small number that were negative cited the slow pace as their main complaint. Readers who have previously found that they get antsy with slowly paced films might want to avoid this film, though I hate to suggest that anyone deprive themselves of such a magnificent experience.
The cinematographer for this film (and the entire Apu Trilogy) was Subrata Mitra, who like Ray has been honored at film festivals for his career achievements. His eye for detail results in images that are sometimes utterly breathtaking. The overall visual style of the film emphasizes realism and simplicity. Mitra’s camera looks on the world with a kind of reverent wonder. There are many sequences of exceptional beauty, such as water bugs skating over a pond and a young girl having her nails painted.
There is subtle but frequent use of symbolism. The train that Durga and Apu go out of their way to watch can be seen as representing progress and the journey of India from traditional culture to a more modern life-style. In Durga’s death scene, the camera lingers on an Indian religious symbol – Ganesh, the elephant-headed god that protects the home, but which is here shaken to its very core by the violent, howling monsoon winds.
All of the actors were nonprofessionals “cast from life” in the manner of the Italian neorealist tradition. The young actors and actresses had a lovely freshness and fully credible authenticity. The performances in all parts were natural, effective, and heartfelt.
The sublime musical score was provided by Ravi Shankar, the now utterly legendary sitar musician, though at the time this film was made, he was unknown, at least outside of India. The music adds immensely to the film.
Bottom-Line:Pather Panchali is an emotionally gripping film that was utterly unique when it first came out. It has honesty and a lyrically magical quality. Ray received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1992. This film is in Bengali with English subtitles and has a running time of 113 minutes. The simple yet eloquent style of this film can’t help but to call into question Hollywood’s excessive reliance on action and pace to maintain viewer interest. The print quality of this film is a little sub-par (some visible debris and scratchiness), but not to an extent that seriously impacts the viewing experience. If you haven’t yet seen this great film, put it on your list. It is a great work of art.
*************************************************************************************************
You might want to check out these other excellent films from India:
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.