PATHER PANCHALI
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
PATHER PANCHALI (1955), also known as SONG OF THE LITTLE ROAD, is an Indian film that is showing now at some of the cinematic art houses. It is considered by many to be a classic movie and is the first part of director Satyajit Ray's "Apu Trilogy." The movie has a lot going for it, not the least of which is extremely earnest and heartfelt performances by all of the cast. In its depiction of abject poverty it reminded me somewhat of King Vidor's OUR DAILY BREAD (1934) and John Ford's THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940). I am sorry to report that, being one of the slowest films I have ever seen, I did not like PATHER PANCHALI. Sincerity is not enough for me; I like a movie where something happens.
At first I had trouble figuring out what was going on since not much of anything was happening so I figured I was missing something. After a while it dawned on me that PATHER PANCHALI is a slice of life movie, but one at a glacial pace. The director gets lots of long sequences of people looking pensively.
The story is a tale of a long suffering wife, Sarbojaya Ray (Karuna Bannerjee), a financially irresponsible father, Harihar Ray (Kanu Bannerjee), a daughter, Durga (Uma Das Gupta), a son, Apu (Subir Bannerjee), and a very old and invalid Aunt, Indir Thakrun (Chunibala Devi), whom the mother views as a lot of trouble. The father is proud to be the descendant of a long line of artists and scholars. He wants to be a playwright and poet, but has trouble making any money in the meantime. He works as an accountant, but does not want to complain to his employer that he is not being paid lest he be fired.
The movie works best in the scenes of everyday life. My favorites are the candy man who walks through the jungle ringing his bells like an ice cream truck in this country, the six week old kittens frolicking, and the great cinematography (Subrata Mitra) of water bugs dancing on a pond.
Most of the movie consists of incidents like Durga stealing fruit from the old family orchard that used to belong to them. She eats the fruit herself as well as gives it to her Aunt and to Apu. She continues to get caught and get in trouble for it. There is a constant tension about whether the father will ever make any money to feed his family. The father has a simple philosophy of "Whatever God does is for the best," which is a pleasant enough aphorism, but leaves his kids close to starvation.
PATHER PANCHALI may be an acquired taste. Certainly the acting is straight forward and earnest, but not much actually happens in the film and what does happen happens so slowly. I think tighter editing (Dulal Dutta) and a more energetic script (Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and Satyajit Ray) would have kept my attention better. Finally, for me the best part of the picture is the music by Ravi Shankar who was then an unknown musician. It is sublime.
PATHER PANCHALI runs 1:55, but I think it would have been much more effective at about 1:25. The picture is filmed in black and white and the print I saw was in acceptable shape, but showed its age. The film is in Bengali with English subtitles. It is not rated, but would certainly be rated G. There is exactly one mildly harsh word in it, and there is no sex, nudity, or violence. The movie would be fine for children of any age, but the slowness would lose most of the young ones. I admire the sincerity of the film, but I can not recommend it no matter how much of a classic it is. It is unmercifully slow. For its sweetness I give **.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: March 28, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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