Review of Pather Panchali (1955) by Eduardo C — 06 Feb 2016

Justifiably legendary film is the most revered film to ever come out of India. Satyajit Ray's 1st was especially frustrating for him due to completing about 40 percent of it and then having to take a 1.5 year hiatus due to lack of money despite it being a low budget film. The film is about the struggle to survive poverty of family in a village. They are so poor even their dirt poor neighbors react strongly to them. Either they pity them and want to help or conversely, are very annoyed by them, despite seeing their own futures in their suffering. The woman of the family works hard but is very annoyed by the old decrepit woman, her mother-in-law whom she resents because she cannot afford to take care of her. She constantly criticizes the unfortunate old woman, until the old woman, fed up, decides to wander off to the forest to die of exposure. In a legendary scene the young boy and girl (brother and sister) go off and.

Play in the forest , encounter the old woman in a crouched praying position and even talk to her assuming she is still alive. When she doesn't respond they gently push her and she topples over, a corpse. The father of the family disappears for months at a time trying to earn money. Sometimes he returns with money and all is well temporarily. Sometimes he works but does not get paid until months later. Whenever he is gone, his family is destitute and survives barely by eating the fruit that falls on the ground. Fruit that comes from an orchard that they actually used to own but had to give up to pay debts. They are called thieves every-time they are seen eating. Karma seems to rear up its ugly face due to the mistreatment of the mother-in-law. The young girl is accused of being a thief, apparently a necklace goes missing and the mother temporarily kicks her out of the home because of the shame.The young girl starts to get sick due to malnutrition. The village doctor shows up for a few minutes and says she will be well, only has a fever and will recover if she doesn't get the chills. But soon there comes a fierce rainstorm and they are so poor they have no doors or windows to avoid the storm coming in, only raggedly blankets that keep falling down. The girl takes a turn for the worse and dies. Then the father appears with gifts and money but the mother is too stunned to even speak to him. The hope of the family lies in young Apu ( the hero of the sequels, it is a trilogy, there are 2 sequels) who seems indestructible. Despite barely eating, he never gets sick , never seems to lack energy. He is what keeps his parents sane. Eventually they decide to pack up and leave for the city, but not before getting a scolding from the village elders because six generations of that family has stayed in that village. As they move, Apu climbs to the top of the cupboard and finds a dusty, hidden necklace . He promptly throws it into the lake. The film is devastating, utterly powerful, and a legendary masterpiece.