A classic

First of all, it’s really too bad I didn’t manage to watch first ‘Pather Panchali’ and ‘Aparajito’ before watching this movie. I did try to get my hands on these 2 movies but I didn’t succeed. Eventually, when I gave up and watched the damned thing, at the end, on the Belgian channel I actually recorded this movie, there was a commercial advertising that these movies were actually available on their streaming platform but, by then, they were already gone. Anyway, it is still a movie that you can watch as a stand-alone. Above all, it was really neat to finally discover Satyajit Ray’s work and I really enjoyed the mood, at least, at first. Indeed, it was so refreshing to see a main character who was poor, who even had nothing but who still seemed to be quite happy and even cheerful. Basically, we have been so conditioned to think that, if we can’t buy everything we desire, we will feel automatically miserable and I loved how this movie really challenged this way of thinking. When he got married, the movie became even better. Sure, their union was really unlikely and, yet, they made such a sweet couple. Indeed, even if they had nothing, they still felt a deep connection and I thought that Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore had a great chemistry (even if Tagore was only 14 years old at the time which was slightly creepy). Eventually, it’s too bad that they kind of lost me when Aparnad died and, to be honest, I didn’t care much for this dramatic turn of events. Basically, in my opinion, it really broke the mood of this movie. Indeed, after that, the main character was constantly roaming with a really grim and depressed demeanor which was hardly rewarding for the viewers, at least, as far as I was concerned. Of course, he was eventually reunited with his son but he was still only a shadow of himself and I thought it was rather frustrating, especially compared to the rest of the movie which was much more compelling. Anyway, to conclude, even it I wasn’t completely sold, it was a really interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Satyajit Ray’s work.