The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Satayjit Ray’s “The Apu Trilogy” is one of the greatest trilogies ever made.  This Blu-ray release is one of the best Criterion Collections sets ever released.  If you are a cineaste, you owe yourself to have “The Apu Trilogy” in your cinema collection.  Highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © 2015 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved.

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TITLE: The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785

YEAR OF FILM: Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), Apuru Sansar (1959)

DURATION: Pather Panchali (125 Minutes), Aparajito (110 Minutes), Apuru Sansar (106 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, black and white, 1:37:1 aspect ratio, Bengali Monaural, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Janus Films/THE CRITERION COLLECTION

RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2015

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Pather Panchali

Directed by Satayjit Ray

Based on the Novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Screenplay by Satyajit Ray

Music by Ravi Shankar

Cinematography by Subrata Mitra

Edited by Dulal Dutta

Production Design by Bansi Chandragupta

Aparajito

Directed by Satayjit Ray

Based on the Novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Screenplay by Satyajit Ray

Produced by Satayjit Ray

Music by Ravi Shankar

Cinematography by Subrata Mitra

Edited by Dulal Dutta

Production Design by Bansi Chandragupta

Apur Sansar

Directed by Satayjit Ray

Based on the Novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

Produced by Satayjit Ray  

Co-Produced: Aminyanath Mukherji

Screenplay by Satyajit Ray

Music by Ravi Shankar

Cinematography by Subrata Mitra

Edited by Dulal Dutta

Production Design by Bansi Chandragupta

Art Direction by Bansi Chandragupta

Set Decoration by Subodh Das, Chhedilal Sharma

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Starring:

Pather Panchali

Kanu Bannerjee as Harihar Ray

Karuna Bannerjee as Sarbojaya Ray

Chunibala Devi as Indir Thakrun

Uma Das Gupta as Durga

Subir Banerjee as Little Durga

Reba Devi as Seja Thakrun

Aparna Devi as Nilmoni’s Wife

Tulsi Chakraborty as Prasanna, School Teacher

Aparajito

Kamala Adhikari as Mokshada

Lalchand Banerjee as Lahiri

Kali Bannerjee as Kathak

Kanu Bannerjee as Harihar Ray

Karuna Bannerjee as Sarbojaya Ray

Hemanta Chatterjee as Professor

Smaran Ghosal as Apu (adolescent)

Apur Sansar

Soumitra Chatterjee as Apurba Roy

Sharmila Tagore as Aparna

Alok Chakravarty as Kajal

Swapan Mukherjee as Pulu

Abhijit Chatterjee as Aparna’s Brother

Dhiren Ghosh as Landlord

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Trilogies.  When often you talk to people of their favorite trilogies, you get the usual answer of sci-fi films such as the “Star Wars”, “Back to the Future”, “Lord of the Rings”, “The Matrix” films often mentioned or even films such as “the Jason Bourne Trilogy”, “The Dollars Trilogy” or the animated “Toy Story” trilogy.

But for cineaste, there are trilogies from outside of the United States that have captivated audiences such as Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors: Blue, White and Red”, the late Stieg Larsson’s “Millenium” Series, Fritz Lang’s “Dr. Mabuse” trilogy, Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Alienation” trilogy, Ingmar Bergman’s “Trilogy of Faith”, to name a few.

But there is one trilogy that is seen as one of the best trilogies ever created and that is Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece, “The Apu Trilogy”.

Three films based on two Bengali novels by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, the films include “Pather Panchali” (1955, Song of the Little Road), “Aparajito” (1956, The Unvanquished) and “Apur Sansar” (1959, The World of Apu).  Each considered one of the greatest films ever created in Indian cinema.

And now, all three films as a Blu-ray set titled “The Apu Trilogy” will be released in November 2015 courtesy of the Criterion Collection.

The first film titled “Pather Panchali” was produced with a low-budget featuring an amateur cast and crew.  The film went on to win many awards internationally including seven awards from the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals.

“Pather Panchali” introduces us to a poor family in rural Bengal.    We are introduced to Harihar Roy (portrayed by Kanu Banerjee) who tries to support his family as a pujari (priest), but his dreams is to have a better career as a poet and playwright, so he often leaves his family in order to earn extra income.

While Harihar is gone, his wife Sarbajaya (portrayed by Karuna Banerjee) raises their daughter Durga (portrayed by Uma Dasgupta) and son Apu (portrayed by Subir Banerjee), along with the elder cousin of Harihar, Indir Thakrun (portrayed by Chunibala Devi).

Sarbajaya is often concerned with their lifestyle.  Their home is in dire need of repairs, without any money, they are often starving and she is often at odds with her daughter Durga, who takes fruit from nearby orchards thus leading to their family to be frowned upon by neighbors.

Seeing that Durga does it for her elder aunt, it also puts Sarbajaya in odds with Indir.

We watch as Durga and Apu grow older and the bond between siblings but also seeing the difficult that the family faces in poverty.

But even love is not enough for Sarbajaya to protect her family, as Harihar’s long journey without sending money back to the family may take its toll.

In 1956, the sequel “Aparajito” was released in theaters, receiving critical praise worldwide and winning 11 international awards include the Golden Lion and the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival.

As tragedy has led Harihar to leave their home in Bengal and move to an apartment in Varanasi, Harihar has found a new job as a priest, while Sarbajaya works as a maid.

But not long after the family is getting accustomed to life in the city, despite the family now making money, while Harihar is out for work, he comes back home and is ill.

Thinking that it’s a regular fever and having gotten over it, Harihar goes back to work and collapses.

Unfortunately, the family faces another tragedy which forces Sarbajaya and Apu to move back to Bengal and settle in the small village of Mansapota.

Back in a rural area, Apu who was educated by his father, wants to go to school, so his mother sends Apu to school.

The film then progresses to a older teen Apu who has become one of the top students at his school.  As the school sees his talent, he receives a scholarship to go to Calcutta for high school but will his mother allow him?

For Sarbajaya, she fears being alone and away from Apu, but she knows that Apu can have a better life if he goes to college.

But will the road for Apu’s search for upper education lead him to a better life or heartbreak?

In 1959, the final film of “The Apu Trilogy” titled “Apu Sansar” was released.  The film would focus on the early adulthood of Apu and life after college.

The film would win international awards which include “Best Foreign Language Film” by the National Board of Review and “Best Feature Film” at the National Film Award.

Apu (portrayed by Soumitra Chatterjee) has graduated from high school and to his surprise, he has not been able to get a job and remains unemployed.  While his teacher advise him to continue his education and go to a university, unfortunately Apu can’t afford it.  So, he tries to find any job that he can get.

As Apu’s goal is to write a novel based on his life experiences but also about love, his friend Pulu (portrayed by Swapan Mukherjee) criticizes Apu because he has never been in love with a woman, let alone had a girlfriend.

But Apu feels that he doesn’t have to be in a relationship to write about love, Pulu disagrees.

Meanwhile, Pulu gets Apu to join him on a trip to his home village in Khulna as his cousin Aparna (portrayed by Sharmila Tagore) is getting married.

As the two are in Khulna and Apu dozes in the sand, as Aparna’s husband-to-be arrives, it is realized that the man she is to married has serious mental health issues.  While the family of the man try to say that he hasn’t eaten and the long ride to Khulna has got to him, Aparna’s mother refuses her to marry a person that may be mad.

But because of their Hindu custom, Aparna must get married before the end of the day (of the appointed auspicious hour) or else she must remain unmarried all her life.

Pulu feels there is one person who can save Aparna, and that is Apu.  Pulu, Aparna’s father and the villagers beg Apu to marry his daughter, but Apu thinks that the custom is ridiculous and not modern.  But seeing how his life at home has been miserable, knowing that Pulu can help him get a job, he agrees to marry Aparna, if Pulu helps him.

And sure enough, Apu and Aparna are married.

And despite being poor and not living in a big place, like she is living now, Aparna is dedicated to being a loyal wife for Apu and as they spend more and time together, the two fall in love.

But will the happy marriage stay strong between Apu and Aparna?

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VIDEO:

“The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:37:1 aspect ratio). The film is presented in black and white and the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release features much better sharpness, clarity and also a good amount of grain. I didn’t notice any major aging or any dirt or debris while watching the film.

But it’s important to note that the restoration process of each of these films were difficult and came from various sources.  While I found each of the films too look magnificent on Blu-ray, the third film did not receive the same treatment as the first two films.

Because a lot of Ray’s films were shot on triacetate, the film was in danger of deteriorating in warm temperatures.  After Satyajit Ray received his Academy Honorary Award in 1992, the Academy was dismayed that there were few prints and masters of Ray’s films in the US and many were now incomplete or in bad condition.  So, the Academy decided to create a catalog of the surviving elements of Ray’s films in the US and to assess what was in good condition or what films would be lost.

After Ray’s death, a project was initiated to restore many of the films, including those in the “Apu Trilogy”.

According to the Criterion Collection, “Several of the film’s original negatives were shipped to London’s Henderson’s Film Laboratories.  But then, tragically, in July 1993, a massive fire at the lab spread to the film vaults, destroying more than 25 original negatives of important British classics and burning several of Ray’s films, including the original negatives of ‘The Apu Trilogy’.  Any ashes, fragments, or film cants that could be identified as belonging to Ray’s films were sent to the Academy Film Archive at the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but “The Apu Trilogy” negatives were deemed unprintable, as there were no technologies available at the time that were capable of restoring such deeply damaged film elements”.

“When the Criterion Collection began working on this restoration with the Academy Film Archive, the negatives were in storage and hadn’t been seen in 20 years.  Many portions were indeed burned to ash, and what remained was startingly fragile, thanks to deterioration and the heat and contaminants the elements had been exposed to.  Head and tail leaders were also often missing from reels.  Yet significant portions had survived, from which high-quality images might be rendered.”

The Criterion Collection would go on to say that “using fine-grain masters and duplicate negatives preserved by the Academy Film Archive, the Harvard Film Archive and the BFI National Archive, excellent replacements were found for the unusable or missing sections of the original negatives.  In the end, 40% of ‘Pather Panchali’ and over 60% of ‘Aparajito’ were restored directly from the original negatives.  The two surviving reels of ‘Apur Sansar’ were too damaged to be used in the restoration, so all of that film was restored from a fine-grain master and a duplicate negative.

Over the course of nearly eight months of steady work, the Criterion Collection restoration lab handled digital restoration, including eliminating dirt, debris, warps and cracks.  Emphasis was placed on retaining the look and character of the original material, preferring when necessary to leave damage rather than overprocess digital images that might lose the grain and feel of the film.”

For, “Pather Panchali” and “Aparajito”, the Criterion Collection used for “Pather Panchali” a 35 mm duplicate negative from the Academy Film Archive and a 35 mm fine-grain from the BFI National Archive, additional film elements used for “Aparajito” included two 35 mm duplicate negatives, one from the Academy Film Archive and one from the Harvard Film Archive.  For “Apur Sansar”, a new 4K digital transfer was created on an ARRISCAN film scanner from a 35 mm fine-grain positive from the British Film Institute and a 35 mm safety duplicate negative from the Academy Film Archive.  Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Digital Vision’s Pheonix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, jitter and flicker.”

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the lossless audio, “The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785”. The film is presented in Bengali LPCM 1.0. Dialogue and music are crystal clear.

According to the Criterion Collection, “the original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the following elements: for ‘Pather Panchali’, a 35 mm safety magnetic track from the Academy Film Archive; for ‘Aparajito’, a 35 mm print from the Venice Film Festival and a 35 mm fine-grain from the Academy Film Archive; and for ‘Apur Sansar’, two 35 mm prints and a 35 mm magnetic track from the BFI National Archive.  Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube’s integrated workstation, and iZotop RX 4.”.

Subtitles are in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785” comes with the following special features:

• A Long Time on the Little Road – (14:37) An audio recording of Satyajit Ray’s article for the British magazine Sight & Sound.
• Soumitra Chatterjee – (7:14) “Apu Sansar” actor Soumitra Chatterjee (adult Apu) talks about working on Satyajit Ray’s films and the impact “Pather Panchali” made on him.
  
• Shampa Srivastava – (16:29) Featuring a 2015 interview with actress Shampa Srivastava who plays the young Durga in “Pather Panchali”.
• Soumendu Roy – (12:34) A 2013 interview with Ray’s main camera operators, Soumendu Roy, who worked on “Pather Panchali”.
• Ravi Shankar – (5:56) Excerpts from the 2003 documentary “The Song of the Little Road” with musician Ravi Shankar, who worked on “The Apu Trilogy”.
• The Small Details – (11:27) Film writer Ujjal Chakraborty discusses the many symbolic details throughout “Aparajito”.
• A Conversation with Satyajit Ray, 1958 – (14:31) In 1958, director Satyajit Ray attended the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in Vermont on the US release of “Pather Panchali”.  The following is an audio recording.
• Making “The Apu Trilogy”: Satyajit Ray’s Epic Debut – (37:46) A video essay, written and narrated by Satyajit Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and produced in 2015.
• The Creative Person: “Satyajit Ray” – (29:00) A 1967, Canadian documentarian James Beveridged traveled to Kokata to film director Satyajit Ray at work.  The half-hour program was featured on the public television sereis “The Creative Person”.
• Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore – (15:07) A 2015 interview with Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore talking about their experience working with director Satyajit Ray.
• “The Apu Trilogy”: A Closer Look – (43:33) Filmmaker, producer, teacher and former head of the British Film Institute Mamoun Hassan explores both the formal techniques and themes of “The Apu Trilogy”.
• Honorary Oscar – (3:03) A clip from the 1992 Academy Awards with director Satyajit Ray receieving an honorary Oscar for his lifetime of achievement in filmmaking.
• Restoring “The Apu Trilogy” – (12:31) Featuring a short and longer cut detailing the restoring of “The Apu Trilogy”.

EXTRAS:

“The Apu Trilogy – The Criterion Collection #782-785” comes with a 44-page booklet with the essays “Every Common Sight” by Terrence Rafferty and “Behind the Universal” by Girish Shambu.  Also, Ray’s storyboards for “Pather Panchali” are included.

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Poetic, visually mesmerizing, these are the earlier films of Satyajit Ray.  But these earlier films go to show why he is considered one the greatest auteurs of all time.

Satyajit Ray.  The Indian Bengali filmmaker was known for his non-traditional Indian films.  Having directed 37 films in his lifetime, many which won multiple awards internationally and his contribution to cinema has earned him an Academy Honorary Award in 1991, his films are beloved by many and many have hoped to see his films receive the Blu-ray treatment in the U.S.

And finally, “The Apu Trilogy” has received the Criterion Collection treatment as this trilogy masterpiece has been long awaited by arthouse fans and what a glorious release this box set has come to be.

When I first watched “The Apu Trilogy” many years ago, it was the film that introduced me to Indian filmmaking.  Unlike the Bollywood films that tends to be associated with Indian films, Satyajit Ray films are moving, humanistic and an artform capturing Indian life with stories that are moving, heartbreaking but also full of hope.

The film “Pather Panchali” was a film that I felt was humanistic, moving and an honest portrayal of rural Bengali life.  Inspired by Italian neorealism, when I first discovered this film, I understood that the film would probably go into detail of living in poverty and trying to survive.

But the first film in “The Apu Trilogy” was much more than that.  While the mother of Apu worried about finances, the primary focus was on the children, the daughter Durga and the little brother Apu.

Durga was the primary focus as you see this young girl, who may not be seen as a good girl, because she steals fruits from orchards to give to her ailing elderly aunt.  But she is a girl that we can see is trying to enjoy life with what she has, but also seeing her in various states of jealousy of those who have things that she doesn’t have.

We see that by her choices, how it frustrates her mother, to the point that she often is admonished or punished.

But still, she is full of vitality and her younger brother Apu, just looks up to her, adores her.  But unfortunately, when the father travels to find work to make money and leaves his family behind with not much to live on, nor did he do what was necessary to fix up the home they live in, the worries that the mother had throughout the film, begin to become reality.

And that is the tragedy that we often see in Italian neorealism films, people in poverty doing all they can to enjoy life during the darkest times, but unfortunately, reality catches up and when you have nothing to live on, especially if you have a family (or pets), quite often in these films, you know that happiness turns into tragedy.

By the time we get to the sequel “Apajarajito”, tragedy drives the family of Apu to the city.  And just when you think things are going well with the family, now that they do have some means to make money.  Living in the city brings in problems that the family never had to experience from their rural town and unfortunately, for the hardworking father figure in the film, all the hardwork unfortunately takes its toll and once again, tragedy overcomes the family.

And once again, the family, which has been decimated, now returns back to another rural area with the mother needing to raise the only person that she has in her life, her son.

But like father, like son, Apu carries on the flame of his father who was a priest wanting to become a writer.  Educated and having a chance to do something with his life, his mother allows him to travel to Calcutta to attend school on a scholarship.

While difficult for the mother, she believes its the right decision and we watch as Apu has become a teenager and so busy with education, he is unaware of his mother’s health, let alone how heartbroken she is being alone at home, wanting her son nearby.

When we get to the third film, “Apuru Sansar”, Apu has graduated from school, unemployed and having no one but himself.  Unable to afford the cost of going to the University, while educated and bright, no one is hiring.

While the young adult Apu has great plans to write a novel (somewhat autobiographical, but in his novel, his character finds love), his friend tells him that he must experience love before he can write about it.

It’s not until circumstances lead Apu to getting married.  But this young woman that he ended up marrying, takes him as is, no questions about his lack of making money, she accepts him for him and as the two live together, they grow together and fall in love.  Like a lovestory with two soulmates that discover each other, Apu and Aparna are a wonderful couple and we can’t help but support this union on screen.

But as the first two films had it fair share of tragedy, I remember when watching the third film, would Satayjit Ray also have the third and final film go down a tragic path?

And I knew in my heart, something was going to happen and sure enough…Apu and tragedy collide once again.  And while I don’t want to spoil the ending of the third film, I will say that “hope” is in every one of the films of “The Apu Trilogy”.

The first film is hope for a better life, the second film is hope for a better future and the final film is hope for a new beginning.

While the film adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s two novels were brought to life by Satayjit Ray, it’s his attention to detail and bringing out the characters and their mannerisms that make the film so realistic and so captivating.  It’s the balance of happiness and tragedy that stirs us emotionally but no matter how tragic the story becomes, you know that there is always a glimmer of hope and that’s what makes “The Apu Trilogy” so magnificent.

Which leads us to “The Apu Trilogy” release by The Criterion Collection so important, so anticipated and I can’t speak enough of how magnificent this set is.

It’s probably the first time I have seen the Criterion Collection go through a major effort to acquiring and restoring films.  This was an effort that I’m not only grateful but also happy to see the company go all out in the sake of restoration but to bring the films out to the public in the best effort that is technologically possible today.  And obviously, for any cinema fan, one knows that restoration is expensive.

So, I’m grateful for the Criterion Collection doing all that is possible for bringing out all three films with the best picture and audio quality for this Blu-ray release set.  Also, for the many included interviews, audios and archived footage that were presented in all three Blu-ray discs and a wonderful booklet included as well.

Overall, Satayjit Ray’s “The Apu Trilogy” is one of the greatest trilogies ever made.  This Blu-ray release is one of the best Criterion Collections sets ever released.

If you are a cineaste, you owe yourself to have “The Apu Trilogy” in your cinema collection.  Highly recommended!