191 - The World of Apu (Apur Sansar), 1959, India. Dir. Satyajit Ray.

Monday, July 10, 2017

191 - The World of Apu (Apur Sansar), 1959, India.  Dir. Satyajit Ray.

This is to certify that Sri Apurba Rumar Roy was a student of mine in The Intermediate Science class in The City College, Calcutta.  He is sensitive, conscientious, and diligent, and is deserving of the fullest sympathy and encouragement.

So says the letter of reference sent by Apu's former teacher.

But Apu is not at university.  He is struggling to survive.

He awakens in his third-floor apartment in Calcutta.  He fell asleep writing and wakes up to ink stains in his sheets.  He steps out onto the balcony and places the sheets in a pail and allows it to collect the falling rain.  He stands in the rain himself and allows it to wash over him.  At this moment he is happy.

Then his landlord appears.  Apu is three month's behind on his rent and today is payday.  Have it by tonight or I will find a new lodger.

Apu spends the day looking for work.  He is under-qualified.  He is over-qualified.  He finds no work.

But he has received good news.  A letter arrives from a magazine stating that they have accepted his story for publication.  Apu is a writer.  He is working on a novel.  He has just placed a short story. This is his dream.  Not working at a labeling plant attaching labels to bottles.

The man who gives him his mail has accidentally opened Apu's letter and tells him of its contents. He complains that Apu never gets any juicy love letters for him to accidentally open.

Apu's friend Pulu appears and invites him to spend the day with him.  They go out on a boat and Apu recites poetry.

They are going to a wedding.  Pulu's female cousin Aparna is getting married.

When they arrive they learn that the bridegroom has backed out.  It seems he is incapacitated and not able to marry.  Tradition states that Aparna must be married on the given day of her wedding or she must live the rest of her life alone.

This is a problem.

How will they solve it?

They have an idea!

Apu can marry her.

What?

I cannot marry her.  I do not know her.  I have no job.  I have no money.  I am about to be kicked out of my apartment.  I am a writer.  I need time to write.  I do not need a wife.

He agrees to marry her.

And so begins a new journey in Apu's life, which will take us in unexpected directions.

And so concludes the Apu Trilogy.

There is something special about these movies.

Many people have cited Ray's intelligence and his humanism.

We are certainly touched by the heart that is in them.

We care about the characters.  We care about Apu.  And in this film we will care about someone new.

The scenes between the 12-year old Apurna and the 23-year old Apu are touching.

How does a young girl arranged to be married deal with this new life?  How does she deal with life with a man to whom she is not even arranged?  And a stranger?

They work through it.

And Ray shows a masterful guiding hand.

These are movies you want to watch again and again.