Pather Panchali (1955), Satyajit Ray

The first movie of his magnificent Apu Trilogy (and also his debut as a director), Satyajit Ray’s 1955 Pather Panchali – arguably the most poignant and naturalistic film about childhood – seems melodramatic in tone and unfocused at times, but it knows exactly what is doing.

When Akira Kurosawa, a giant of world cinema, bows down in admiration over a filmmaker, one has to pay attention. For to be deprived of the sun and the moon means having no light or direction, day and night. The fact is that one does not really need the endorsement of a genius to recognise another genius. Satyajit Ray’s films are slow like learning curves; apparently simple, but definitively not simple-minded; fully humanistic. His films are like life itself: hard to pinpoint its meaning.