Apu Not Forgotten- On "The World of Apu"- briefly

With friends visiting from out of town and planning upcoming events, I forgot about Satyajit Ray's film "The World of Apu". The film is short and doesn't use the score to manipulate tears from the audience. It is a seamless fusion of word and image. A love story about a starving artist and fate. When I see corny trailers for contemporary films marketing obtuse love stories, they make me cringe. I see denial being peddled like crack during a depression. The movie begins with Apu having to drop out of school because he can't afford tuition. He's not too disappointed because he's confident that he'll become a successful novelist. A good friend invites him to his cousin's wedding to enjoy some food, drink, and have a good time in the country. When Apu arrives, the bride's mother is enamored by him. Thinking it odd, she dismisses it attributing it to Apu's good looks. The marriage is arranged. Nobody's met the groom who apparently comes from a good family. When he arrives, he is unstable and noticeably mentally ill. Whether out of desperation to marry off his daughter, the father insists that the groom's condition is due to traveling a long distance. If the girl isn't married as planned, she'll be forever disgraced. Someone has got to marry her. Apu being the eligible bachelor and not related, is the prime candidate and chooses to help save the girl's honor. They go back to Calcutta to his small roof top room and fall in love with time. It's amazing how when done by an amazing director/storyteller like Satyajit Ray, this obvious set up is beautiful and resonant. No, I don't want some one to do the Hollywood version or Euro-minimal deconstruction of Ray's film. It's perfect as it is. Yes, there is tragedy. Heaps of it. It's what makes it perfect and none of it is drab. Not one bit.

I tried reading Armes again after the film. And found “Third World Filmmaking and the West” drier than before. When I compare it to Robert Stam and Ella Shoat's “Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media”. Armes' book misses the Chutzpah.

The next book on the shelf is "Assassins", by Stephen Sondheim.....

More Soon

Apu

This weekend I attended a great workshop at El Museo del Barrio. I was invited to participate in a Creative Capital Professional development workshop. During it I got into a conversation about culture background with a fellow attendee. As part of marketing, we're suppose to look into all avenues one of them being cultural background. My conversation was about how as second generation Americans we felt on the margins between our parents' cultural connection and the one we were born into. Education has tons to do with it. It is where all the propaganda, ideals, and beliefs begin to take shape. How does it affect how we make art? Moving along to "Third World Film Making and the West", I've found my way to the directors' chapters. First one up is- Satyajit Ray. Armes begins the chapter with a bit about his life going into some detail on Ray educational background. Ray was always made conscious of his bordering two cultures. From his stories to his camera work, the Hindu and the British merged through critic commentary. For Ray, it was just how he worked and saw the picture. I just got one of his most famous "The World of Apu". The version form the NYPL is dubbed, but on dvd with special features (bonus!) At 110 mins., I will watch it while the kids are napping. It's safe to say that Tinkerbell the Movie has nothing on this.

More soon