Watching this captivating film at the height of the global coronavirus pandemic, a time when the world seems so bleak and disrupted, I am truly uplifted by its very hopeful, prevailing message. Here we have a couple, the Mazumdars of 1963 Calcutta (now Kolkata), who are faced with the responsibility of providing for three generations of their family while their financial future suddenly collapses all around them without advance notice. At this time of widespread misery--physical, emotional, and financial--throughout the world, this film, directed so brilliantly by Satyajit Ray, could not have arrived by way of Turner Classic Movies at a more appropriate time.
As the story of one struggling family unfolds, the film explores very important themes concerning traditional gender roles, social upheaval in India at the time of its early independence from British rule, and, most importantly, the ability to maintain respectability and moral integrity during difficult economic circumstances. Instead of the director preaching his ideas to us by repeatedly hitting us over the head with them, as is so common among the many mediocre films of today, he more effectively shows us his views through the actions of very sympathetic, complex characters. In this success, he is greatly assisted by the talents of the entire cast, most notably Madhabi Mukherjee, who plays Arati, the newly employed wife. Even the boss, played so ably by Haradjan Bannerjee, cannot be dismissed easily as a narrow-minded bigot without our consideration for his own background, his own story. The elderly father of the house, who understandably feels cheated by life, reveals another, very important set of tragic and distressing circumstances of impoverishment and dependence that especially hit home to me as a senior citizen. Nothing that is presented here is simplistic or superficial.
In her introduction of the film, TCM's Alicia Malone, stated that director Ray was inspired by the post-World War II movies of Vittorio De Sica, one of my favorite directors ("Two Women", "Bicycle Thieves", and "Umberto D"). Personally, I would have liked more "on location" photography of 1963 Calcutta in the way that De Sica so dramatically captured post war Rome during the 1950's, but I was very appreciative of the street scenes that were featured here. After this favorable introduction of his work, I will be sure to pay much closer attention to the films of Satyajit Ray in the future.
As the story of one struggling family unfolds, the film explores very important themes concerning traditional gender roles, social upheaval in India at the time of its early independence from British rule, and, most importantly, the ability to maintain respectability and moral integrity during difficult economic circumstances. Instead of the director preaching his ideas to us by repeatedly hitting us over the head with them, as is so common among the many mediocre films of today, he more effectively shows us his views through the actions of very sympathetic, complex characters. In this success, he is greatly assisted by the talents of the entire cast, most notably Madhabi Mukherjee, who plays Arati, the newly employed wife. Even the boss, played so ably by Haradjan Bannerjee, cannot be dismissed easily as a narrow-minded bigot without our consideration for his own background, his own story. The elderly father of the house, who understandably feels cheated by life, reveals another, very important set of tragic and distressing circumstances of impoverishment and dependence that especially hit home to me as a senior citizen. Nothing that is presented here is simplistic or superficial.
In her introduction of the film, TCM's Alicia Malone, stated that director Ray was inspired by the post-World War II movies of Vittorio De Sica, one of my favorite directors ("Two Women", "Bicycle Thieves", and "Umberto D"). Personally, I would have liked more "on location" photography of 1963 Calcutta in the way that De Sica so dramatically captured post war Rome during the 1950's, but I was very appreciative of the street scenes that were featured here. After this favorable introduction of his work, I will be sure to pay much closer attention to the films of Satyajit Ray in the future.