Review of Pather Panchali (1955) by Akash S — 11 Mar 2013

'Pather Panchali', the first one in Satyajit Ray's 'The Apu Trilogy', is a cinematic masterpiece, and the best one in the trilogy. The story, the characters, the situations, everything in this movie overflows with such excruciating reality and brilliance. It well-deservedly won the 'Best Human Document Award' at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

No matter how old and slow the movie is, it's captivating and extremely absorbing from the very beginning, and shows the heights a film, at its best, is capable of achieving. It stands out because of its poetry, its humanity, its haunting lyric beauty, its imagery, and its remarkable portrayal of a family and a culture.

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's impressive screenplay, along with Satyajit Ray's exceptional direction, portrayed through powerful performances by every actor in the movie, makes it the film that it is.

Ray's direction is top-notch and one-of-a-kind. The characters, their hopes and dreams, their behaviour and relationships - everything is shown with such brutal realism, relatability and poignancy. I was really able to empathize, and feel the angst and pain of the characters. And if this is not enough, imagine this was Ray's debut movie, and made on a budget that wouldn't buy a five-star meal these days!

The movie proves why Satyajit Ray is referred to as the Grand Master of World Cinema.

This first part in the trilogy takes you through the starting years of Apu's childhood when he was living in his ancestral home in Bengal, with his parents and sister. The dual themes of progress and loss form the core of this film, as well as the whole trilogy.

On a personal note, this is the best film I've ever seen which explores childhood so stunningly. The movie's places, characters and every other thing reminded me of something from my childhood; it was nostalgic and heart-wrenchingly beautiful. There are so many scenes of the siblings which remind wondrous events from one's childhood: the pursuit of a sweet-seller, running across white fields to catch a glimpse of a moving train, a simple picnic among friends in the forest, playfully getting wet in rain, and hiding some evidence so that the other sibling doesn't into trouble.

Even the range of intriguing characters in the film is vast; the hardworking but seldom-present father, the overburdened mother, the innocent siblings exploring the world around them, the always complaining or blaming neighbour/landlord, and the old and usually silent old lady in the neighbourhood who's always in her own world.

Even at this age, the Trilogy is considered to be one of the most important and brilliant pieces of Cinematic History. Legendary Japanese Filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa once aptly said: "Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.".