Just finished Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
These are the best films I have ever seen in my life.
Here's the un-restored version of the last scene of the trilogy (it's between a man, his father-in-law, and his son; it should be pretty obvious who is who).
(EDIT: OK, the one I originally posted apparently can't play in the US. This is a shortened one. Just before this, the brooding bearded Apu has handed his father in law his dead wife's jewelry to pay for his son's upkeep and education. The father in law asks why he won't demand the boy go with him, as is Apu's right. But the boy does not believe Apu is his father, and Apu doesn't want to force him to go.
Apu: "I can't make him go."
Father in law: "You are good for nothing. I always knew you were good for nothing."
(This was quoted in a 1995 Jimmy Smits/Edward James Olmos movie, if it seems familiar.)
Criterion just restored the whole thing from the original negatives (some of which had to be painstakingly repaired after a fire) and commissioned new and better subtitles than these (this is the Sony 1998 release). I speak enough Bengali that I didn't particularly need them, but some of the "translations" in this scene are glaring (though like with most of Ray's movies it's not really about the dialogue).
If you're into this, the three films of the trilogy are:
Pather Panchali ("road song"
-- featuring a soundtrack by the then-unknown musician Ravi Shankar. If you watch it, keep in mind that this was quite literally the first time Satyavit Ray had ever picked up a movie camera.
Aparajito ("undefeated"
Apur Sansar ("the world of Apu"
Seriously, this is the best cinema I have ever seen in my life. Akira Kurosawa once said that first seeing Satyavit Ray's early work is like first seeing the sunlight. I think I suddenly get that.
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