Pather Panchali (1958)

Pather Panchali tells the story of a family inching slowly and irrevocably, over the course of several years, toward the edge of financial and emotional disaster. In a rural Bengali village, circa 1919, Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee) recites sacred texts and performs religious rites for a living. He dreams of being a playwright, but he must support his growing family.

His wife, Sarbajaya (Karuna Bannerjee) must suffer her husband's long absences as he searches for work and the hostile pity of extended family members who are better off financially and socially. Her daughter, Durga (Uma Das Gupta), has the bad habit of stealing mangoes from the neighboring orchard, which adds to her mother's shame. When a son, Apu (Subir Bannerjee), is born, things seem to be looking up for the family. But it is only a short-lived illusion.

First films don't come any better than Pather Panchali. Made in 1955 by Satyajit Ray, this truly remarkable feat of storytelling is a must-see kind of movie. Ray reveals a gift for presenting stories that unfold gently, one engaging scene at time. This film delivers an amazing emotional punch that will linger in your consciousness for some time, not in spite of, but because of its simplicity.

The story is based on the novel of the same title, written by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee. Shot in glorious black and white, it runs for 115 minutes. The script is by Satyajit Ray, the music by Ravi Shankar. --Luanne Brown Amazon.com essential video

Great

Somewhere between the Oriental placidity of a great Yasujiro Ozu film and the harsh reality of a great Vittorio De Sica film lies the world of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, the first of his Apu Trilogy of films. And in case there was any doubt, that place is a very, very good one for any filmmaker to be, for the two aforementioned filmmakers were masters of their own sorts of films, and- if this one, and first, film of Ray's is an indication, the same plaudits can be ascribed to Ray, a former advertising firm's employee who struck out on his own to raise Indian cinema from the melodramatic doldrums it had been in since its creation.

This almost two hour long black and white film, made in 1955, was not only Ray's debut in the medium, but the first `serious' film in Indian history- at least that made by an Indian. It is no surprise that Ray, a Bengali, made his film in his part of India- funded by the provincial government of West Bengal, away from the more commercial films of what would later be called Bollywood. The film's English subtitle is Song Of The Little Road, but this is a bit of a nonsequitur since the film is based on a novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, and the only road with any prominence in the film is a recurring hagiography of a local set of railroad tracks. Some websites claim that the title connotes the subtitle, and that Pather, in Bengali, means of a path, and Panchali means a kind of Bengal song; however, other sites and critics dispute this claim. The tale is set in the early 20th Century, although the film never specifies a date- at least not in the white English subtitles of the Artificial Eye DVD The Apu Trilogy three pack, which includes the other two films, as well: Aparajito and The World Of Apu.

Like the Italian Neo-Realist films of De Sica, Ray relied on an excellent script (adapted by Ray, from the novel) and amateur actors, for the most part, to pull the film off. A low budget made `big' scenes an impossibility, but Ray shows off, in this film, some nice touches with the camera that cost nothing but a few minutes of cogitation. These skills all led to international praise of the film in many quarters, and a special award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

The plot of the tale is rather simple, and easily conveyed, but this film is a great example of how merely recapitulating or summing up a plot utterly does an injustice to the deeper and greater story....Pather Panchali is a truly great film; it is not only a classic of its native land, but of the very art form of film. And, as mentioned, it not only derives its power from Italian Neo-Realism, but also from the diurnal do of Yasujiro Ozu's films. Ozu is another filmmaker who has been criticized as dull and tedious, but both men are keen observers of their fictive worlds. In those realms the flicker of an eyebrow can have greater consequence than an army brigade's assault on an enemy. Yet, to the viewer not yet weaned off of the Lowest Common Denominator, such moments are not even noticed. I only wish that Satyajit Ray, who died in 1992, was still around to know that his film was yet influencing more people in the positive way all great art does, but realize, as he surely did, that he need not be, for great art always and eventually fills out the places the human body gives way to. In watching Pather Panchali, one gets a sense of Satyajit Ray, as he was. Go know him. October 18, 2008

An amazing movie with a terrible DVD release.

Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)

This would be a ludicrously long review before I ran out of good things to say about Pather Panchali. But everyone else has already said all those things. If you didn't listen to them, you're not going to listen to me, but I'll put in a "see it. now." here for good measure and get onto what will be a review not of a great film, but a ludicrous DVD release.

Biswas proudly trumpets that it has exclusive rights to Pather Panchali in the DVD market. If this is the case, it should be considered a crime against nature. The video transfer is horrible, the sound transfer only marginally better. I've seen better subtitling on bargain-basement bootleg Chinese DVDs. If your only chance to see the film is in the Biswas DVD release, wait until you can catch a revival somewhere. This is terrible in the extreme, and hopefully, someday, someone will do something about it. The movie gets four stars; the DVD release, one. May 11, 2007

beautiful introduction to Satyajit Ray......

This is a great introduction to the masterful films of the late, great Indian filmmaker, Satyajit Ray. PATHER PANCHALI is the first of the Apu Trilogy, a series of stories that takes a look at the life of Apu, a young Bengali boy from a poor background. In this installment, Apu (Subir Bannerjee) is growing up with his older sister, Durga (Uma Das Gupta) who has the pesky habit of stealing mangos from their neighbor's tree. His mother, Sarbojaya Ray (Karuma Bannerjee) is constantly bickering with the children's elderly aunt (Chunibala Devi) and struggling to maintain a tidy household. Apu's father, Harihar Ray(Kanu Bannerjee) performs religious prayers and writes for a living. He ventures out to seek work for himself, leaving his small village and family behind him.

This story examines the ups and downs that the struggling family must endure, and is truly poetry in motion. What's more, it has a quiet intensity that flows beautifully with the wonderful musical score by the legendary sitar master, Ravi Shankar. Be sure not to miss this treasure...... March 20, 2007

Loss, Love, and Redemption

I'm sorry to see that as if this date Amazon has no copies of this film for sale. I hope this is temporary. It would be a shame if this film were not made available for people to own.

I have all three DVDs of the Apu trilogy. This, the first in the trilogy, is the best one, I think. Three of the major themes are the irrevocable nature of loss, the power of human love, and the simple but powerful ways we experience redemption.

Many reviews focus on the title character, Apu, yet this is also a powerful portrayal of various phases of women's lives: maiden, mother, and crone, if you will. Durga, the maiden, is often described as a petty thief, yet her acts often seem heroic to me and serve to underscore the pettiness and selfishness of her neighbors. Why should Durga have to steal guavas from the land that used to belong to her father? Why can't the neighbors share?

As for stealing the beads, Durga's desire for something pretty, while not so heroic, is perfectly understandable when one realizes how little Durga is appreciated in a family that dotes on Apu, the boy. Yet there are no villains in this film. All characters are fully rounded. The mother, who often seems cruel, is also a sympathetic character who tries to keep her pride in tact while descending deeper into poverty all the time.

The grandmother is, to me, the best character of the bunch. She's as mysterious as she is mischevious. The petty bickering between Durga's mother and grandmother doesn't show an absence of love but results from the pressures of day to day survival. The women, in fact, are woven into the same tapestry of life. In one brilliant shot, the mother is shown holding her weary back while the grandmother, bent from years of hardship and work, shuffles in the background. Life is hard and the inevitability of old age is just around the corner. How is one's hard work and sacrifice repaid? Are we destined to end up like Durga's grandmother, whom nobody seems to want? Nobody, save Durga, who has a pure heart and shows her love by bringing lovingly her hungry grandmother stolen guavas.

The people and situations are never sentimentalized, not even the death of the grandmother, whose body is discovered by Durga and Apu.

Yes, this is the story of Apu, a young boy, but it's also the story of the three main phases of women's lives. This film is rich visually and is one the viewer will think about for a long time. One of my all-time favorite films. PATHER PANCHALI is the best of the three, but THE WORLD OF APU doesn't miss this distinction by much. June 9, 2006

Good visual drama

This film came recommended to me by several of my friends, so I felt compelled to see it. After watching the film, I am glad that I listened to them as this was a very good movie. Even though this is done with subtitles, I had no trouble following the story.

Although not really a draw back, this film is the first part of a trilogy, so the ending is more of a prelude to a beginning. The story is following a Brahmin family that has fallen on hard financial times. The ever optimistic father has trouble bringing enough money in to meet the needs of his family and keeping the ancestral home in good repair. Tragedy after tragedy besets them, which is the impetus for the ending of this movie (and beginning of the next).

In no part of this film did I have trouble following the filmmaker's work. The story kept me locked in and watching. I would highly recommend this film to others.
October 13, 2005

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