Pather Panchali (Father Panchali), Indian director Satyajit Ray's first feature film, relates the story of an impoverished Bengalese family. When the father (Karuna Bannerjee) leaves for the city to pursue a writing career, the mother (Karuna Banerji) is left with the responsibility of caring for the rest of the brood. Gradually, the film's true central character emerges: Apu (Subir Banerji), the family's son. Though excruciatingly realistic at times, Pather Panchali takes an occasional timeout
to dwell on the purely cinematic. For example, when the mother receives a postcard bearing good news, Ray dissolves to a pond, where a pair of water skates scamper about. The music by Ravi Shankar at first seems to be at odds with the action; soon, however, we come to accept the music as a logical outgrowth of the events at hand. A multiple award winner, Pather Panchali was the first of Ray's celebrated "Apu Trilogy" (the other two entries were 1956's Aparajito and 1959's The World of Apu). The film was also released as The Song of the Road and The Lament of the Path. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
It is a pastoral poem dappled with the play of brilliant images and strong, dark feelings, a luminous revelation of Indian life in language that all the world can understand.
Fresh as a daisy after all these years, Satyajit Ray's 1955 spellbinder comes underpinned by a tumultuous Ravi Shankar sitar and paints a ground's-eye portrait of life in an impoverished Bengali village.
Satyajit Ray began his career with a film that still stands as possibly the best-known Indian film ever made, and regarded by many as one of the greats of all time.
it's hard to believe satyajit ray and his cinematographer had never worked on a film before this. they had observed renoir filming the river and with his encouragement and the inspiration of italian neorealism made this poetic masterpiece about life in a small bengal village circa 1920, a really timeless film. i love
films about india and i'm looking forward to the rest of this series. there's huge natural talent at work here
June 4, 2009
Stella Dallas
Super Reviewer
"Pather Panchali" is the first part of Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. This film focuses on a poor family with a prestigious past living in rural India. The father has dreams of becoming a writer/poet/playwright, even as he accepts a job to do a landowner's accounts to support his family.(It should be noted that we
rarely see him or any of the other men of the village.) However, he does have a kind heart, one that clashes with the reality of the situation. "Pather Panchali" is really a simple, uiniversal story, about a struggling family. There is not a lot of plot to speak of; it is much more character driven. I thought the camerawork was very graceful. The film quietly builds up to its powerful climax.
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