Title: Overpraised, but full of good things.
Product review: There has been a conspiracy in film histories, even in those that profess sympathy to non-American cinemas, to reduce Indian cinema to the populism of Bollywood and the humanism of Satyajit Ray. It is when you see audacious films like Ghitak's 'The Cloud-Capped Star' that Ray's conservatism becomes apparent, his stylistic restraint, his formal totalising, his apoliticism.This is not to say that 'Pather' isn't full of good things - the move from social realism to the mystical; the montages of nature; the Gothic structure leading to the most harrowing storm in cinema; the space for comedy and play amidst all the poverty; the startling introduction of Apu. By all means start with Ray; just remember he's not the whole story.
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