Song of the Little Road
(Pather Panchali)

A son named Apu is born to a poor family in a Bengali village. The boy grows up with his sister Gurda, who takes care of him and helps him discover the world. The debut film of Satyajit Ray and the first part of the Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali already encompasses all of the filmmaker’s expressiveness. With the great musician Ravi Shankar as guest on the soundtrack, Satyajit Ray sets aside the codes of Indian cinema to embrace neorealist influences. Above all, he invents a poetic language and an art of dazzling synthesis. As foundational events erupt in the course of daily life, the film spawns a powerful drama from the depths of a village and family chronicle. FM