Days and Nights in the Forest

Satyajit Ray, India, 1969, 115 minutes

Alongside the USA, India produces the highest number of films in the world. Satyajit Ray is one of the best known and most critically acclaimed of India's directors. Days and Nights in The Forest is arguably his best film, and, because of various western influences, perhaps his most accessible. It has a European feel at times, and is cinematically, especially close to the work of Renoir.

Four successful young men from Calcutta decide to take a break in the countryside of Bengal. While there, three of them form relationships with women, experiencing feelings that the self-satisfied, middle-class environment of the city had denied them.

Ultimately about the way such lives can isolate us from ourselves, from all about us and from clear-cut moral sensibilties; Ray manages by methods both joyful and tragic to draw attention to the nature of his characters. The female characters are morally superior to the males, which might be considered one of the flaws of the film's make-up.

The second part of the Apu trilogy is stunning in its evocation of the rural and emotional spaces explored by Ray's characters. Its delightfully realised themes are offset by the technical mastediness of the director and wonderful performances from the cast. The multi-talented Ray also composed the score.

Review by David Khune Jr
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95