It's criminal that this masterpiece isn't better known. Ritwik Ghatak is a fascinating director, haunted by the trauma of the Partition, the arbitrary line the British drew across northern India to mark the border with Pakistan. He is a far more political and provocative artist than Satyajit Ray.
Subarna Rekha Golden River is an angry, tragic film about displaced Bengali refugees. Ishwar Chakraborty IAbhi Bhattacharya) is a middle class educated man who leaps at the first chance to get out of the colony when an old friend offers him a post in a provincial factory. This will afford him the security to bring up his younger sister and an orphan boy for whom feels responsible.
Years pass, and the boy now an aspiring writer and girl fall in love. Their older brother is horrified. The boy is lower caste, and this will undo his professional standing. No spoilers here, but the last act of this almost Shakespearean drama is absolutely unforgettable, and if you get the chance to see it, grab it.
I was reminded of Shakespearean tragedy, but also of nineteenth century novels by Balzac and Dostoievsky. Yet the film-making is expressionist and remarkably modern the way that Ghatak amplifies and distorts sound, the way he exploits and subverts the conventions of song in popular Indian cinema, and his bold but sparing use of point of view shots and close ups I am not in the habit of awarding perfect tens, but this is one of the greatest films I have ever seen.
Subarna Rekha Golden River is an angry, tragic film about displaced Bengali refugees. Ishwar Chakraborty IAbhi Bhattacharya) is a middle class educated man who leaps at the first chance to get out of the colony when an old friend offers him a post in a provincial factory. This will afford him the security to bring up his younger sister and an orphan boy for whom feels responsible.
Years pass, and the boy now an aspiring writer and girl fall in love. Their older brother is horrified. The boy is lower caste, and this will undo his professional standing. No spoilers here, but the last act of this almost Shakespearean drama is absolutely unforgettable, and if you get the chance to see it, grab it.
I was reminded of Shakespearean tragedy, but also of nineteenth century novels by Balzac and Dostoievsky. Yet the film-making is expressionist and remarkably modern the way that Ghatak amplifies and distorts sound, the way he exploits and subverts the conventions of song in popular Indian cinema, and his bold but sparing use of point of view shots and close ups I am not in the habit of awarding perfect tens, but this is one of the greatest films I have ever seen.