Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

ashrafamodd Even though I'm of Indian decent, I only visited India on holiday but I've lived in an Indian community in South Africa. This movie reminds me of my childhood, the way the old aunties and grannies used to be in our Indian neighbourhoods but it wasn't as rural as it was in India and my generation was a few decades later. Yet, I related very closely to this film.I grew up watching many Bollywood films in our family, with our parents and I'd yearn for the quality Bollywood of older times. Satyajit Ray doesn't provide that Bollywood nostalgia but he provides total realism that I haven't seen in Indian cinema - to his level. I mostly love the way his characters are free to walk around the rural areas and their simple pleasures in the field, going toward the train and playing with water. Being about children, it is playful but also very serious with the way Ray depicts the grandmother and her relationship with the children's mother. I've been calling her grandmother, but i wasn't sure if she was just an old lady/aunty in the village or a blood relative. I might've missed that but it's all the same as she was treated as a relative and I think in Indian communities they could've adopted this responsibility to take care of her anyway. Ray isn't sympathetic to his characters, he shows us their ugly and beautiful side. He does this with the mother and children. He exposes some real weaknesses and his coverage of Apu is very dreamy, seemingly like himself. For me Pather Panchali is the best of the Apu Trilogy because its very real, but it's not easy to get going because it was Ray's first film and he was notably still mastering his craft at that stage.

valadas A real masterpiece indeed in every aspect: atmosphere, interpretation, dramatic stoutness of the plot and a remarkable gallery of authentic characters. In West Bengal (India) a poor family lives in a rural village: father, mother, son, daughter and an old almost invalid aunt. Money is scarce and debts pour. The father decides to leave for the city to get a better job. Daily life is shown in a very realistic detailed way. Everything is really dramatic and tragedy ends by falling upon the rest of the family, pushing the man who had come back meanwhile to leave the village and head for the city with his family. This is one of those movies you must decidedly not to miss.

Siddhesh Jaiswal I can't believe I waited so long to watch this movie. I recently rented it on Google Movies with some credits I had, half-way into the movie and I regretted my decision to have not purchased it outright. This is not just a movie it is an event in cinematic history you have to experience. You feel an unreal connection with all the characters and they linger with you long after the end credits. I don't know if this movie will ever leave me, I certainly hope not. I understand now why they call Satyajit Raj one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. All the actors have acted amazingly for being amateurs. I simply cannot forget Durga or the old aunt, Indir Thakrun. Chunibala Devi, who plays the aging aunt delivers one of the best performances I have ever seen. Watch this movie and let it sink in. You will simply be unable to comprehend all the different emotions you encounter throughout its run time.I will wait some time before watching the rest of the trilogy. This is way too much for me right now.

ozjeppe Authentic account of the life of a poor, rural Indian family's life and hardships during a few year's time. Universal in theme but doesn't really get gripping until the final 15 min's during a memorable rain storm. Feels almost like a student project in its utter simplicity, technical limitations and primitive montage storytelling... which at times makes it a bit hard to follow in exactly what's going on (some bits are just frame filling and have no cause-and-effect whatsoever). I read after watching it that the father is a priest, and that it's supposed to be set in the early 1900's... gee - good to know, because the movie itself certainly doesn't tell me so! But most of the time it's just unclear if we have a main character: The mother? The daughter? No, apparently (again, after reading more about it afterward) it's supposed to be Apu, the son - which is weird since he honestly doesn't get more attention - OR personal character development than anyone else!I badly want to be more generous (like when you have to be nice about commenting a small kid's poor, ugly doodle drawings) because of its earnestness and alleged historical influence/importance to Indian cinema. But I can't - because it's simply not good enough. It's more an exotic rarity/half-documentary than being a particularly good movie. Do I feel like watching the sequels? Not much.4/10 from Ozjeppe.