Over the last three days, while repainting my bedroom and stocking up on Blu-rays for my new Christmas gift (I have the best parents, have I mentioned that ever?), I've been watching all three films of the Apu Trilogy. These three films (
Pather Panchali (
Song of the Little Road),
Aparajito (
The Unvanquished) and
Apur Sansar (
The World of Apu)) are directed by Satyajit Ray and were made between 1955 and 1959. They follow the life of a young Brahmin boy, Apu, as he grows up, goes to college, and marries. I learned that these films are part of a film movement in India known as "
Parallel Cinema", which is sort of like French New Wave. They deal with realism, serious topics, and naturalism, and are the alternative to mainstream Bollywood films. This is really new for me - the only Indian cinema I am familiar with is Bollywood, so it was very interesting to see this totally different style.
