oh, the humanity!

The setting of rural Bengal breathes with a soulful rhythm as the film poignantly and delicately narrates the story of an impoverished Bengali family through their daily struggles and tribulations. The movie's simplicity and neo-realism, and the beautiful, extended shots, make for a rhythm all of its own, a simple epic beautifully depicting the ups and downs of life. Heartbreaking and delightful in equal measure, Satyajit Ray masterfully captures the simple joys of childhood, and the ambitions and dreams that define us all as humans.

Criterion Challenge 2021
36 - Made In India

The camera almost boasts about its indifference to human suffering when it captures on film the beauty found in some of mans darkest moments! No one in its path is spared, their most private of despairs and anguish flayed open and spilling out from a gaping wound for all to bear witness!

Painful as it may be for the viewer to walk in the protagonists shoes so-to-speak, the journey is on a well-trodden path not unfamiliar to humanity past and present for we the common man are all kinsmen when it comes to the many injustices and cruelties of life!

The most human film you will ever experience!

The 7 year-old's pick to ring in the new year. Good times. If Auntie's death masque visage doesn't haunt his nightmares for the foreseeable future well then I don't know 7 year olds. He claims that he loved it. I'm just proud of him for sticking with it and I like that Apu's face (along with all the others) is taking up residence in his impressionable mind.

Thing that struck me this time: the animals and people's relationship to them. Auntie in particular clearly detested them, resenting them for having a home when she had none. Her introduction has her crushing a kitten beneath her bag and right before she leaves the house for the final time, she stares at a dog standing on the porch with palpable hatred.

Everything else as remarkable as I remember it.

Pather Panchali is the introductory film in The Apu Trilogy and one which radiates an exhilarating spell of magic and magnificence. Written and directed by Satyajit Ray and based on a serial which first appeared in a Calcutta periodical in 1928, there’s nothing quite like this movie. The degree of skill on display supported the foundation for the two subsequent instalments as well as hurling Ray into the sphere of world film. It irreproachably communicates intense sentiment and poetic pleasures which reverberate deeply, and it's international success is due in no small part to the human emotions at its nucleus possessing a universality to them. The film additionally spotlights some marvellous music By Ravi Shankar, who reached further global attention after being championed by Beatles guitarist George Harrison.

Well, that was as great as I'd heard. Satyajit Ray was, and otherwise remains, a huge blind spot for me. (There are many others. I live in shame.) I'll partly blame that on his most famous films—The Apu Trilogy, of which this is the first—being nearly impossible to find on home video. This aired on TCM a while back, and now I badly want to catch up. Hard to believe it's Ray's first film, the work of a self-taught director who put together a little bit at a time during weekends and days off. There are scenes and images here—getting Apu ready for school, the kids following the candy salesman, the framing of mother and daughter on opposite sides of a door, the train scene—that are just magic. And the ending is both devastating and feels absolutely true to the lives of those characters.

Hmmm, interesting. I was just reading on the Wikipedia page, that the woman playing the Auntie was actually 387 years old when this was filmed.
Impressive.

Oh, by the way, I thought Indian cinema was suppose to be fun, bubbly dance numbers featuring lots of peaking and hiding - not something that makes you cry harder than when the wife dies in Up.

Like, seriously, what the hell?

A priceless gem in the world of Filmmaking from the Genius mind of Satyajit Ray.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

a perfect movie

Phwooo, Satyajit really was an absolute genius of pathos from the very beginning

It all boils down to systemic issues. So good. And this after all with an old broken camera!! Wow!!

'Dram bu ise, bugüne kadar izlediklerim neydi' dedirtiyor insana.
Neredeyse sıradanlaşan zengin-fakir çatışması, Pather Panchali’de hiç olmadığı kadar çarpıcı bir biçimde ele alınır. Zengin-fakir ayrımı, ilk bakışta melodramlardan alıştığımız gibi siyah-beyaz ayrımı kadar keskindir. Fakat zamanla tüm karakterlerin kusurlu olduğunu ve asıl sorumluların bireylerden ziyade, sistemi oluşturan kurumlar olduğunu anlarız. Fakir ailenin evinin içinde olanlar ne kadar gerçek ve acımasızsa dışarıdaki mekanlar o kadar büyülü ve hayalidir. Bir şekercinin peşinden koştukları esnada suda yansımalarını izlediğimiz çocuklar, bir anda zenginlere ait bir malikanenin kapısında bitiverirler. Sanki bir gezegenden diğerine geçmiş gibidirler. Ya da sürekli sesini duydukları ama bir türlü yakalayamadıkları tren, hep onlardan uzakta hayali diyarlara gider.

Realism isn't for me, I don't think. Or, maybe I'm just at the point where when i hear 'inspired by italian neorealism' I turn away. Don't get me wrong, there are some great things about this film. The simplicity of the storytelling does re-enforce the class conflict, struggle of poverty and joy of adventure. there is no place Ray's camera doesn't go, which makes it a fascinating and uniquely cinematic story in how it feels like you're really experiencing these events in the way the child characters do.

I can also understand why, if plot is your favourite thing about a film, this may be so strong. However, I would say at this point in time I prefer films with a more expressionistic style, and as such this film, which to me felt like so many others with its stationary camera and long discussions about domestic life, struggled to keep me engaged.

Pather Panchali - Satyajit Ray (1955)

A coming of age story set in 1910s Bengal. An impoverished family struggle to get by while their father works as a priest but dreams about being a playwright.

My introduction to Indian Parallel Cinema and it's a beaut. It's all so simple but transcendent in how it captures moments of rapture and humanity amongst the everday setting and pace.

The actors are all clearly non-actors, more existing than acting, drawing us into this world we can almost feel through the crisp black and white photography. It's just, it's the real is what it is. Magical but mundane.

9/10

#patherpanchali #aputrilogy #satyajitray #indianparallelcinema #historyofsocialrealism #reviewsonrealism #thedonttellshow

My first Ray film. I started with one of his most highly rated and didn’t care for it. May be awhile before I watch the next one.

just felt like a 'hard truth' type of film sharing the reality millions of villagers faced in India then and even now. How a family operates in such conditions, and finds ways to have fun and dream, is what this movie is about.

Some of the best child acting I've ever seen. Works wonders with perspective, space, music, sound design. Like Les quatre cents coups or Ivan's Childhood, a definitive cinematic depiction of childhood.

hidup itu susah. adalah kalimat pertama yg muncul setelah menonton filmnya.

suka sekali dengan tekstur2 dari gambarnya yg kasar, keras sesuai dengan keadaan. apalagi dengan warna hitam putih sehingga terlihat lebih detil dan spesifik.

sangat bisa merasakan dan dekat dengan karakter2nya. seperti berbagai dan beberapa sikap dari tiap karakter terlihat buruk tetapi sesungguhnya itu realistis. apabila kita berada pada situasi tersebut, kita akan berlaku yg sama. keluarga, kasih sayang, kemarahan tapi tetap ada rasa peduli dan sayang itu. penolakan atas keadaan, rintangan seolah tak ada habisnya. dengan solusi akhirnya mereka memutuskan untuk pergi dari kampung halaman mereka.

sebuah film brilian mengenai hidup.