Living with the Movies Day 4
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Title: Pather.Pachali (1955) India
Director: Satyajit Ray
Length: 122 minutes
Prejudice exists because you know too little. I recently read movies and books, and some recommended Rey's "Apu Trilogy". It took three nights to read them one by one, and I felt that the filming was really good. The first time I saw India in the movie, there was no deliberate rendering of entertainment and singing and dancing. India in 1920, I thought it was a different world from today's life, but after reading it, I was deeply immersed in it, as if I had a life that seemed familiar.
Satyajit Ray's "Apu Trilogy" series are "Song of the Earth", "Song of the River" and "Song of the Big Tree", from Apu's childhood to his middle-aged wandering Life. Although these three are a series, "Song of the Earth" is the beginning of fate for me, like a small window.
About Apu's childhood, where to start talking about it? Apu has very bright eyes, and these eyes seem to be a perspective of the whole film. Even if life is poor and hard, under these eyes, everything seems to be endowed with magic, more pure and brilliant, buried A little bit of agility under the huge life. I think the camera can speak. Although no one tells you that this is the perspective of a child, the camera clearly tells you that yes, this is the dream of childhood.
The opening scene takes place in rural India in 1920, and Apu's family is a relatively poor family in the village. The story itself is a difficult and slightly heavy display of daily life. For adults, it is not easy to live without talking about life. But from Apu's eyes, even the barren land has rich colors.
A scene that left a deep impression. The artisan who sold sugar came to Apu's door with a burden. The elder sister asked the younger brother to go to the father to ask for money. After the request was fruitless, the siblings simply followed the sugar dealer, hoping that they could share. to a little candy. In the picture is a long shot, the hawker walking in the front carrying the load, the two brothers and sisters walking behind them, and a dog following, a group of people walking through the woods, walking by the river, the camera follows the water. After photographing it, the leaves fell and ripples appeared on the water, reflecting the reflections of the three people and the dog. This picture is really beautiful and beautiful, and with the smart sound of the sitar, it makes me feel relaxed and happy when I sit in front of the screen.
In the eyes of children, everyday details are infinitely magnified. In the dead of night, the aunt who told fairy tales and ghost stories under the dim oil lamp cast a huge silhouette on the wall, with a kind of terrifying and mysterious atmosphere. In the classroom, some students did not do their homework seriously, and the teacher who was chatting with others suddenly showed a fierce expression, and the close-up shot of the advance enlarged the teacher's exaggerated expression repeatedly. When the mother taught her sister, the camera switched back and forth between the tearing mother and daughter and Apu's terrified eyes. With the rapid drum beats, the tension intensified. After the rain passed, the mother asked Apu to ask her sister to eat, so everything went back to normal. reconciled. Although these shots are not deliberately seen from Apu's eyes, I know that this is indeed Apu's feeling and the world received by the little man.
When I wrote this, I suddenly thought of the novel "Old Events in the South of the City". In the tone of the protagonist Xiao Yingzi, it tells about the scenery and daily affairs of the southern city of Peiping in the old era. Although the life of the people at the bottom is still difficult, in Xiao Yingzi's memory, It's full of innocence and fun. In "Chengnan Old Stories", Yingzi's childhood ended with the death of his father, while in "Song of the Earth", Apu's childhood ended because of the death of his sister. In fact, in the Apu trilogy, at the end of each story, the protagonist will leave Apu. Leaving is a theme that everyone cannot escape. Life is more like many paragraphs, so there is always a time to come to an end. .
The film was Rey's first, and photographer Subrata Mitra had previously shot only stills, using a borrowed 16mm camera. In the 1950s, Italian neorealism was in full swing, and Rey, too, believed that everyone had a role to play, and that was himself. It is said that the actor who played the aunt, Chunibala Devil, was actually eighty years old at the time. When Rey found her, she was in a brothel, thinking that Rey was looking for a girl. The most natural performance is to let actors come from real life and give them roles that fit them.
One of my favorite things about the movie is the soundtrack. These were the works of Ravi Shankar, who was a fledgling novice at the time. The music uses the sitar, which is flexible and melodious, presenting the unique beauty of traditional Indian rhythm. And many natural scenes in the film show Rey's own oriental aesthetic interest, insects in the pond, lotus leaves rolling on the shore, clouds, rivers, paths... The shades are appropriate, with appropriate blanks, and the beauty of the picture is freehand and harmonious. The sound of the sitar complements each other and the atmosphere is very complete.
"Rey's three films have since swept the top prizes at Cannes, Venice and London, and created a new form of cinema for Indian cinema that has never before had such a decisive impact on films in his culture. ." (from "The Great Movie" Roger Ebert) More than half a century ago, this movie brought a new shock to the world, and today, as a movie watcher, I am also like a microcosm, also I want to award my own award to this movie, thanks for the shock, freshness and moving it brings to me.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that I actually saw too little. I know very little, so I would like to share this with you.
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