Lewes Film Club Indian Mini-Season - Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali, the first in the Apu Trilogy films being screened by Lewes Film Club this month, starts slowly. It’s the sort of film you need a bit of patience to get into, even if you like the feel of it. There’s little wonder. It’s set in a rural village in Bengal in the 1920’s. On the first day of filming, the director, Satyajit Ray, had never directed a scene before. His cameraman, Subrata Mitra, had never used a movie camera. Some of the actors hadn’t auditioned. Ray had had to sell his record collection to help finance the film. One of the few professional actors, 80-year-old Chunibala Devi, hadn’t worked for over 20 years and was eventually located in a brothel in Calcutta. From such inauspicious starts legendary films are made. And this is a legendary film. So be patient.

Ray, an unsuccessful commercial artist, spent 1950 in London watching neorealist films. When he went back home to Bengal he decided to make one himself. It took him four years to complete, and was the start of a long career, for which he eventually won a lifetime achievement Oscar. The film, adapted from a popular novel by Bibhuti Bushan Banerjee, tells of a high-caste father who struggles to feed his family because his poetic ambition is stronger than his work ethic and desire for money, with tragic consequences. That’s it really. The acting is superb (especially from Devi), the cinematography is to die for. The movie transports you straight into a strange world, and makes you feel you know it. It’ll stay in your head for the rest of your life. DL