Aparajito

Saw Aparajito, an Indian film from the 50s, film number two of the Apu trilogy, based on the autobiography of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. This is the last one I've seen however as I didn't prioritize the integrity of this series. It's too bad though because it's such a rich series. This one follows the protagonist Apu as he becomes a young man. After a childhood in the bustling city of Varanasi, he and his mother move out to the country where he enrolls in a school and turns out to be quite gifted. After an adorable learning-about-the-world montage, he receives a scholarship for college. At college in Calcutta is where the real meat of the film is found. Apu struggles with his rural youth. He clearly resents the small-town atmosphere and loves the sophistication of the city (to say nothing of and the university.) He loves his mother, who still lives out there, but resents her pathetic loneliness, her silent aura of guilt that she holds over him. There's a scene where Apu's mother speaks movingly to him, only to find that he has drifted off to sleep mid-soliloquy. This is a cruel scene to include in an autobiography, and one that must have been invented. The author has let us know that he has not forgiven himself, that he still feels guilt.

It's funny to talk of the author of the book that a film is based on but the film has a very literary tone. The acting and shooting are fairly workaday. There are some excellent shots, but very little visual cleverness. Most of the interesting parts of the film come from evocative scenes, such as when a young Apu feeds monkeys in a temple. They scamper up chains, hung with bells. The bells ring out, seemingly blessing Apu, celebrating him. These early scenes illuminate Apu's struggle with his humble past and by extension with his humble mother. He's trying to escape his past but that's what formed him, the blessing of the monkeys, and long walks along the Ganges listening to priests and hucksters and fitness buffs, each representing a philosophy, a rich collage of ideas.

This is such a rich film. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface and already there's plenty to keep me interested. It's not a crowd-pleaser of course. It's set 8000 miles away from me and 87 years in the past, so it's a tad dry. Like a good book, you have to work a bit for the themes but if that sounds like a good time to you, check it out. A rich, fecund film.