The Apu Trilogy

 

If you've never seen the Apu Trilogy you've never seen cinema.

Sometimes life imitates art, and sometimes coincidence follows me around. Last week I watched all three films of the remarkable Apu Trilogy which  consists of 3 stand alone masterworks that were made in India by Satyajit Ray between 1950 and 1959. I had seen the films separately through the years in fair prints on dvd and now we have the luxury and beauty of the recent new Criterion release of the films which have been incredibly and miraculously restored. This restoration is a thing in itself and gets its own telling in the terrific supplements.

But first the sad coincidence of the great indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee who starred in the last film of the trilogy “Apur Sansar” which translates as “The World Of Apu” dying a few days after I viewed the film. His life was rich. Did his soul leave his body as I watched his performance.  This time around instead of beginning with the first film “Pather Panchali”  “Song of The Little Road” I started with the last film for a silly reason not even worth mentioning. For first time viewers, you should of course begin with “Pather Panchali”

I had memories of all of the films, including “Apur Sansar” and my loving memories of it were still somewhat fresh in my mind. I knew what was coming more or less and I still broke down in tears at the ending.  Truth be told I actually broke down in tears at the end of all of the films. Tears come easily these days.

In “Apur Sansar” Chatterjee plays Apu who we first meet as a child in “Pather” and is now a young rudderless late 20’s man who is out of everything, money, school, a job and no love in sight. He lives in a terrible little room and can’t even afford the rent on this hovel when an old friend arrives on the scene and changes his life. Chatterjee is wonderful, not a perfectly handsome man, but attractive and hopeful two attributes that we demand our movie heroes have, or at least I do.  

The trilogy’s first film is “Pather Panchali” where we meet the child Apu and see his world through his eyes and gaze. Actually the first thing we see of this beautiful child is his eye.  Set in the 1920’s it is a poor world this rural community where Apu lives with his mother, sister, his ancient auntie  and his often gone but loving father who is a writer and a Hindu priest traveling around the country.  Everything is falling down or apart and mud is everywhere. Yet even with these hardships Apu is still a boy and he is on a voyage of discovery and awe. All the things of life come to this sad but strong family: love, loss, death and recover.  The Matriarch Sarbajaja played beautifully in the two first films by Karuna Banerjee is sometimes harsh and mean but she is also loving and strong and is the glue that holds this family together. In another words she is the mother of us all.

The second film “Aparajito” picks up with Apu now ten and living in a new environment the holy city of Varanasi then known as Benares and the family is still living in dire poverty with more loss to come. Apu is played  by another child actor who is still lively and inquisitive. The city is crowded and bustling and Ray with his artist’s eye shows us so much that it’s hard to take everything in.  In the wink of this eye Apu is now a young man on his way to Calcutta to begin his education having gotten a scholarship to further his studies. Every one of us who ever left home at an early age will relate to this part of the trilogy including the sadness of his mother as she bids farewell to the last love of her life. It’s a hard thing to watch as she releases her son to his own life. The beautiful young boy has grown into a somewhat callous self centered young man, but he is industrious and quite brilliant in his studies. The ending of this 2^nd film ends on a sad note as well. I’ve not mentioned many of the details of the trilogy because to do so would take away your pleasure in discovering them for yourselves.  Pather Panchali was Ray’s first film and he also wrote all the screenplays for the trilogy that were based on the popular novels by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee. Also of note is the original music for all of the films that was composed by the great Ravi Shankar when he was still unknown , and the lovely cinematography by subrata mitra who had no film experience at the time of filming “Pather Panchali.” A remarkable accomplishment all around, and one of the great masterpieces of the 20^th Century.