FILM REVIEW by Charlo Pisani

Year of release: 1955 Director: Satyajit Ray Pather Panchali Production company: Government of West Bengal Song of the Road Certification: U

atyajit Ray’s monumental by Ravi Shankar’s sitar music. In which brings out the bright blaze of S Pather Panchali deals with an a celebrated scene, the mother India’s heat and the silvery tones of impoverished family in rural Bengal. is unable to communicate to the the monsoon habitat to crystalline, Maybe monumental isn’t the right father that their daughter Durga elemental palpability. The recent word for this humble movie and yet, died from a cold; the mother’s Blu-ray release eliminates the it is apt because of the film’s intense cries are replaced by wailing sitar ‘ghosting’ effect and muddy transfers depiction of human emotions and its notes. The shot remains helplessly of previous VHS or DVD releases. towering position in Indian cinema. ‘immobilised’ as the anguished Finally, one cannot imagine Pather This is Satyajit Ray’s first film and father rises out of the camera’s Panchali without the actress Chunibala the first in a trilogy depicting Apu’s view, then returns helplessly to it. Devi, who plays the aged widowed coming of age and a family’s fateful The film’s pacing alternates between aunt. The moment she comes to descent into misfortune while the quiet, domestic chores and vibrant, realise that she is no longer wanted father works in the city. Adapted exterior episodes in which Apu and in the household, convinces me that from Bibhutibhushan Banerji’s novel Durga behave as children do. Much the medium close-up was invented of the same name, it reproduces like the source novel and the Mangal- for this moment in film history. many of the episodes from the book. Kāvya poems in Bengali literature When I met Satyajit Ray’s son in However, it commands pacing, (made up of episodic poems called Calcutta, he gifted me with an original cinematography, and performance panchali), it is the periodic nature of poster of the film. A Bollywood which make it a distinguishable rural life which drives the film forward. producer present in the same room work in its own right and a prime Although it differs from commercial leapt up for it. That poster made it example of India’s transcendental western narratives, with their linear through the monsoon (unlike Durga) take on Italian Neorealist cinema (c. cause-effect plots and clear resolution, and Pather Panchali continues to win 1944–1952), which was based on the film made its way to western hearts across the world. It is in this serious concerns and social realism. audiences winning the Best Human spirit that this review was written— The director has a keen eye Document award at the 1956 Cannes with the hope that a work from a for establishing natural pacing Film Festival (among many others). different time and so close to the devices—from gathering storms to Of note is the film’s excellent human spirit, could become something flitting mosquitoes—accompanied black and white cinematography, personal for the readers of THINK. Fun 71