Pather Panchali

Steyn Online ^ | 1 May2021 | Kathy Shaidle

[Rummyfan]

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the centenary of Satyajit Ray, novelist, publisher, illustrator, composer, lyricist ...and above all a great film-maker. Ray was born on May 2nd 1921 in Calcutta in the Bengal Presidency of British India. On what would have been his hundredth birhday, we present our late friend Kathy Shaidle's take on his 1955 classic Pather Panchali:

"Not to have seen the cinema of Satyajit Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon." – Akira Kurosawa

When Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali debuted at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, no less a personage than Francois Truffaut stomped out early, declaiming, "I don't want to see a movie about peasants eating with their hands."

He wasn't on the jury that year, though. Pather Panchali won — not the Palme D'Or, the Grande Prix or even the Special Jury Prize (Cannes' "Miss Congeniality") — but the "Most Human Document" award, which (as its off-key, by-committee moniker attests) the jury cooked up on the fly.

And has never handed out since.

Such are the paradoxes of Pather Panchali...

[Rummyfan]

It's on TCM right now.

[Reno89519]

Less than zero interest in anything from India or by Indians.

[Migraine]

"Not to have seen the cinema of Satyajit Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon." – Akira Kurosawa

We'll just leave it at that then.

I tuned in for a couple of minutes of it. I gave it 5 yawns.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Less than zero interest in anything from India or by Indians.

Someone with "zero interest in anything from India or by Indians" would, of course, not even have bothered to read the original post, let alone respond to it, so of course your statement is untrue.

In any event, the movie looks depressing. But then, a lot of Kurosawa's movies are long and depressing. Doesn't mean they're bad. I'll give it a shot.

[Reno89519]

No, you miss the point. The only good Indian is one that is back in or returns to India. Nothing about their cesspool country, tribal culture, caste system, filth, etc. is the least bit redeemable. Why would you promote it anyway?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

No, you miss the point.

I don't think I do - you're obviously interested in India and Indians. It's an interest that's negative, but it's obviously there.

To whit:

The only good Indian is one that is back in or returns to India. Nothing about their cesspool country, tribal culture, caste system, filth, etc. is the least bit redeemable.

You obviously have strong feelings about the country and its people. That's interest.