The Apu Trilogy Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

A poetic, uplifting and moving trilogy of films

It is difficult to put into words the almost overwhelming experience that these three films can bring to the viewer. I had seen the first film a couple of times and now dvd has made it possible to see the trilogy of films one after the other. The story is the deceptively simple one of Apu growing up in poverty in rural India, moving to the city to study and his subsequent marriage and work in the India of the 1950's. The director Ray, working with minimal resources, quite simply produces a masterwork. He has a painter's eye and the black and white images are simply ravishing. In fact, everyone involved in these films deserves the highest praise, not least Ravi Shankar for the music. I have never been to India but every frame of these films seem to be saturated with the reality of life in this poor country. A way of life that has probably gone on relatively unchanged for centuries. So much so that the presence of a train produces in Apu feelings of tremendous excitement and you can sense the great continent opening up to him. Without giving anything away there are two deaths in each film and they are incredibly moving in their presentation on screen. One of these is a spiritual death rather than a physical one and leads to a re-birth. Intrigued? Take a rental and be amazed at the power of these wonderful films.

who would have guessed it

In spite of myself I ordered this DVD with the thought that it had been described as a classic. Guess what - it is. It certainly isnt anything like the dire rubbish produced by bollywood and as the director in an interview says is far more 'european' in its unglamourous portrayal of life in a small indian village. The characters are universally recognisable and the beauty of the film is in the way it shows the trials of life and death in a way which isn't constrained by the cultural setting. This is a film which draws you in and stays in your thoughts long afterwards.