11/1/2022 0 Comments Pather panchali![]() The depth and realism of the relationship between the two siblings, built up and layered over so many years, also contributes greatly to the devastation of the film’s ending. The nostalgia and sentimentality with which I comprehended Pather Panchali was probably the most significant aspect of my appreciation for it. It’s a narrative that still plays out strikingly today, reminiscent of more recent films like The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017). Whilst the adults worry about money, work, and food, the siblings find blasé enjoyment in the little that is available to them, such as listening out for the whistle of passing trains. The childishness of such scenes also showed the children’s lack of understanding, or perhaps lack of care, for their underprivileged lifestyle. As an elder sibling, I felt Durga’s aggravation in the scene where Apu steals the precious tin foil from her toy box – some things clearly don’t change between siblings no matter where or when you are. It was both amusing and poignant for me watching the two fight and play together in equal measure, as I have done with my own sisters my whole life. I found the most powerful aspect of the film to be the way the relationship between Apu and his sister Durga was portrayed, particularly through the performances of the child actors. Watching the world through the eyes of a child is consistently a narrative focus that captivates me. ![]() Somehow I felt both distant from and very close to the family though their cultural traditions and living conditions differ vastly from my own, the family dynamic and treatment of human emotion in the narrative are themes that are entirely universal and timeless. I felt that I could never tire of Apu and his world, and it provided me with an enlightening experience in terms of understanding his family’s way of life. I enjoy these kinds of slow-paced, meditative films that tend to creep up on you in their effect it wasn’t until the film’s final moments that I realised how invested I had become in the characters. The scope of the story, the believability of the performances, and the subtle but powerful treatment of hardship and tragedy made this film so engaging despite the expansive run-time. Upon viewing, I could immediately understand why Ray’s film might be considered to be one of the greatest films ever made, and certainly worthy of preservation and distribution by Criterion. Despite the slow collapse of his world around him over the years, the young Apu remains wide-eyed and wilful in the face of tragedy he can’t quite yet comprehend. When Apu’s father leaves their home to try and find a better job in the city, the family falls into even greater poverty, with responsibility now placed solely upon the shoulders of his mother. Tensions resulting from their lack of wealth are made more strenuous by the presence of Apu’s elderly auntie, Indir (Chunibala Devi), in their home, with whom his mother resents sharing food and resources. ![]() Apu lives with his parents, Harihar and Sarbajaya (Kanu Banerjee and Karuna Banerjee), and teasing but motherly older sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta), who opens his eyes to the many wonders of life in the dense forest that surrounds their small village. Ray’s Bengali realist drama offers a meandering, unembellished examination of life for an impoverished rural family from the perspective of their youngest son, Apu (Subir Banerjee). Widely considered seminal works of Indian film and the broader classical canon, the trilogy was re-released in 2015 to popular acclaim, casting new light on what had been Ray’s directorial debut 60 years earlier, Pather Panchali (1955), the first film in the trilogy. In 2013, Criterion acquired Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy for their latest restoration project after the original negatives of all three films were badly damaged in a fire and kept hidden for a decade. We hope the celebration of this incredible director -and these classic films – inspire others to find new cinema they love and share their discoveries with others Criterion Month is a massive collaboration across 5 websites in honor of Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday and of the films of the Criterion Collection. ![]()
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