Satyajit Ray's Apu's Trilogy review by Martin Paule

from Martin Paule's Micro Movie Reviews: A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z--

The Apu Trilogy
Pather Panchali satyajit ray

Aparajito
The World of Apu
The Music Room aka Jalsaghar Two Daughters

While some find these films glacially slow, I consider the trilogy to be one of the greatest and most honest works committed to celluloid. The director, Satyajit Ray undertook this series in 1955 with neither much film experience nor funds. Thanks to the Merchant/Ivory team, the trilogy has been reissued in video with sharp new prints and legible (and literate) subtitles. When I originally saw these films in the 60s, the prints were
awful and the subtitles were practically illegible, so watching them in pristine condition proved a great delight.

Each film covers a number of years in the life of Apu, an Indian born to a poor Bengali family. They should be seen in the order given for maximum
appreciation.

In "Pather Panchali" Apu plays a subordinate role as the young son who with great, soulful eyes watches the members of his family struggle for
survival. Though they squabble and are full of human frailties, a great love emerges in the telling which makes the tragic turn of events involving
his older sister all the more heartbreaking. At the end of "Pather", thefamily turns its back on their rural home and strikes out for the city
where they hope to find a life that offers them a bit more material success.

"Aparajito" takes up the story upon the family's arrival in the city. Apu is now 10 and life for the family continues as a grim day to day struggle.
Apu's father, a lay priest, becomes ill and dies leaving the family in terrible straits. Apu and his mother return to the country where they are
dependent on a relative for meager sustenance. Apu through his great thirst for knowledge is able to attend a local school. When he is offered a
chance at attending college in Calcutta, his mother is reluctant to see him go. The film deals perceptively with the relationship between sons and
their loving but sometimes manipulative mothers.

In the final installment, The World of Apu" we find the now-adult Apu trying to complete an autobiographical novel while living in abject poverty
in Calcutta. Through a fluke, and and in his willingness to save his best friend's family from disgrace, he marries a woman he has never met before.
They fall deeply in love despite these circumstances and the bride comes to accept her chastened lifestyle in Apu's roach-infested flat. As in each of
the two previous films, a great tragedy befalls Apu from which he only slowly recovers to emerge as a still struggling but indomitable figure.

It is hard to think of any other films that offer so much emotional genuineness while being told in the simplest and most straightforward
manner. I came away from watching the trilogy with the feeling of having really known these people and tasted, to some extent, the flavor of their
lives. As an added reward the scores for each film were written by Ravi Shankar and were performed by some of India's most illustrious musicians.

Indian director Satyajit Ray's meditation about pride and vanity involves an aging noble who has squandered his wealth, primarily on hosting lavish
musical evenings for his neighbors. Despite encroaching poverty, he continues to maintain an affluent front in his crumbling mansion until he
literally blows his final rupees on one final extravaganza. This will be of special interest to those with an affinity for Indian music-the score
includes music by Ravi Shankar and Bismillah Khan.

This is another restored film of Satyajit Ray's now available on tape and well worth running down. It consists of two adaptations of stories by
Rabindranath Tagore, the first concerning a postmaster who is transferred to a remote, malarial Indian village. There he inherits from his
predecessor a little orphan servant girl, setting up a curious relationship. The second story is the tale of an Indian law student who
decides to marry a local tomboy to sidestep an arranged marriage by his mother. But his chosen just isn't the marrying kind...