Aparajito

Golden Lion, 1957 Venice Film Festival

Following the domestic and worldwide success of Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray returned to the novels upon which it was based, to continue the story of Apu from child to teenager. If Pather Panchali gave its young hero a glimpse of the outside world through a train passing through his village, its sequel APARAJITO takes him to the city and beyond. His family has moved to Varanasi, where Apu catches the attention of his teachers, who know that Apu’s academic promise will open doors. His mother, quietly and perhaps reluctantly, knows this too.

A masterpiece of generational change and its weight on everyday families, APARJITO is as crushing and monumental a portrait of parent and child as anything from Yasujiro Ozu. For many, it is the towering achievement of the Apu Trilogy, though it is, as any chapter in life itself, merely a progression, ordinary and unrankable, that we are blessed to witness.