One of the interesting things about stage plays being brought to the screen is they can make changes, big and small to them. Interpretation is everything and it can mean moving a play forwards in time or moving it across the world or even changing it so that the bare bones remains but a new tale has been built on its remaining super structure. An Enemy Of The People (aka Ganashatru) is a case in point as it takes Henrik Ibsen's play set in a Swedish village in the late nineteenth century and moves in to late twentieth century India, changing much in the process and yet clearly being an adaptation of Ibsen's original work. The results are intriguing if not entirely satisfactory.
The change in setting makes for the most intriguing aspects of the film. Ibsen's tale of an idealist doctor discovering the cause of a sickness going through his village only to find himself discovering that political and economic forces are keen for the truth not to be broadcast has proved universal and this film only shows why that is. Relocating the events to Bengal shows how the forces of change struggle around the world against the same forces no matter what the circumstances. Yet the film brings in a new aspect thanks to its setting as the debate between science and religion comes into play as the source of the sickness is shown to be a Hindu temple. It's an interesting addition that gives the film, and indeed Ibson's basic plot, a certain degree of timeliness. Indeed, it feels like the film could be set almost anywhere in the modern world with the change of a few names, fashions and technology. In that way, the film shows the strength of its original source material while also putting its own spin on it.
Unfortunately it also falls victim to the same malady that many filmed versions of stage plays often do. The film feels very stagey, being set indoors with the exception of a couple of shots in the film (in fact it appears that was one of the reasons why writer/director Satyajit Ray picked as his health was in decline) which isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. The real problem with the film is its pacing as its moves at a glacial pace despite the nature of the dialogue and the conflicts between various characters but most especially the brothers at the heart of the human interactions playing out. It's a very stoic and contained film, even when it reaches the moments of chaos at its climax.
The climax for that matter is another problem. Ibsen's play ends with Doctor Stockmann (Dr. Gupta in the film) standing surrounded by his family as he realizes he must become "an enemy of the people" if he is tell the truth and be be true to who he is, creating a wonderful sense of ambiguity over the nature of the ending. The film ends on a significantly happier note as an unseen crowd comes to support Dr. Gupta and it looks very much like that the truth might well prevail. There is, I suppose, a need to give the tale a more optimistic ending but it also rings untrue with the events that the film shows before that and it lacks the dramatic impact that the original ending had. For all the interesting things that Ray brings to the film's script, this is the change that fails the most and that hurts the overall film as a result.
An Enemy Of The People (aka Ganashatru) stands as an interesting film, though deeply flawed. While it shows the timelessness of its source material while also bringing new elements to it, it nonetheless fails to capture the speed or energy of it while its change of ending rings hollow alongside the rest of it. It stands then as a film of mixed results that succeeds in some ways, fails in others but also shows what can be done with a century old play even if it doesn't live up to its promise.
The change in setting makes for the most intriguing aspects of the film. Ibsen's tale of an idealist doctor discovering the cause of a sickness going through his village only to find himself discovering that political and economic forces are keen for the truth not to be broadcast has proved universal and this film only shows why that is. Relocating the events to Bengal shows how the forces of change struggle around the world against the same forces no matter what the circumstances. Yet the film brings in a new aspect thanks to its setting as the debate between science and religion comes into play as the source of the sickness is shown to be a Hindu temple. It's an interesting addition that gives the film, and indeed Ibson's basic plot, a certain degree of timeliness. Indeed, it feels like the film could be set almost anywhere in the modern world with the change of a few names, fashions and technology. In that way, the film shows the strength of its original source material while also putting its own spin on it.
Unfortunately it also falls victim to the same malady that many filmed versions of stage plays often do. The film feels very stagey, being set indoors with the exception of a couple of shots in the film (in fact it appears that was one of the reasons why writer/director Satyajit Ray picked as his health was in decline) which isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. The real problem with the film is its pacing as its moves at a glacial pace despite the nature of the dialogue and the conflicts between various characters but most especially the brothers at the heart of the human interactions playing out. It's a very stoic and contained film, even when it reaches the moments of chaos at its climax.
The climax for that matter is another problem. Ibsen's play ends with Doctor Stockmann (Dr. Gupta in the film) standing surrounded by his family as he realizes he must become "an enemy of the people" if he is tell the truth and be be true to who he is, creating a wonderful sense of ambiguity over the nature of the ending. The film ends on a significantly happier note as an unseen crowd comes to support Dr. Gupta and it looks very much like that the truth might well prevail. There is, I suppose, a need to give the tale a more optimistic ending but it also rings untrue with the events that the film shows before that and it lacks the dramatic impact that the original ending had. For all the interesting things that Ray brings to the film's script, this is the change that fails the most and that hurts the overall film as a result.
An Enemy Of The People (aka Ganashatru) stands as an interesting film, though deeply flawed. While it shows the timelessness of its source material while also bringing new elements to it, it nonetheless fails to capture the speed or energy of it while its change of ending rings hollow alongside the rest of it. It stands then as a film of mixed results that succeeds in some ways, fails in others but also shows what can be done with a century old play even if it doesn't live up to its promise.