The third film in Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy is the most technically accomplished. By the time he made it, Ray had already directed four other films, starting with the first in the trilogy, Pather Panchali (1955), filmed between 1950 and 1954. In the final installment, Apu faces an uncertain adulthood in Calcutta. With no money to attend college, he scrapes by with odd jobs, a situation made more bearable when he "accidentally" takes a child bride. But her death in childbirth sends him into a tailspin that leaves him a failure as a father. As with the other films in the trilogy, Ray cast unknowns; his leading actors, Soumitra Chatterjee as Apu and Sharmila Tagore as his wife, Aparna, were making their film debuts. Both would go on to become major players in Indian cinema, with Chatterjee appearing in 13 more Ray films and Tagore in four more, two of them re-teaming her with Chatterjee. Despite later awards and acclaim, however, they will always be remembered for their simple, emotionally transparent performances in this touching, detail-filled account of growing up in India. As he had for the other films in the trilogy, Ravi Shankar supplied the score, years before he became an international sensation.

By Frank Miller