Auteurship: Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He directed and produced the Apu Trilogy, which are the three movies I decided to see from his large collection of work. The Apu Trilogy consists of three movies, Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). They are based on Bibhutibhshan Bandopadhyay’s novels. The story is of a Bengali family and their struggles and life in India. It covers the life Apu, from a child in the first one to an adolescent in the second one and to an adult in the third movie.  It is a coming-of-age movie. Throughout the three movies Apu and his family live through all kinds of hardships like death, illness, and poverty.

Coming from a prestigious and exceptionally artistic family Satyajit was destined to be a creative genius from the beginning. Both his father and grandfather were well-recognized writers in India.

Satyajit grew up in a creative environment and ended up being one of the most, if not the most, important filmmaker of Bengali India. He is recognized for his autership, he designed the posters and text for all his movies, wrote most of the scripts and stories, made most of the musical scores, and directed all of them.

Some reoccurring things in the trilogy that prove the auteurship of Ray in the films were the simplistic and beautiful use of still shots of nature after a dramatic event happened in the story to show the specific mood of the scene. The same thing applies with close ups of the characters faces displaying an emotion. This movie is a great example that there is no need for excessive or explicit dialogue or a dramatic crying scene or special effects, to communicate a character’s feelings to the viewer, all you need is the truth, which in this case Ray demonstrates with real, honest reactions from the characters and humble and poor villages and towns that portray Indian life in what I assume an authentic. Another thing Ray used was the same style of Indian music throughout the movies.

The three movies are in black and white. They are all in Bengali Indian and all take place in India also. The movies are vivid, raw, and sad realities of Indian life. They also show the beautiful relationships of the family as well. The relationship of mother/daughter, husband/wife, and aunt/nephew and niece are all displayed with a stunning reality. You also see the goodness of people in how families help each other in times of adversity. This goes on throughout the three movies; the feeling of growth and reality of people are demonstrations of Ray’s autership and of his style.

Even though Bibhutibhshan Bandopadhyay originally wrote the two books that would be adapted into the three movies made later by Ray, most people remember the story because of the movies. Satyajit Ray put his stamp in Bengali cinema and even though he has made countless other films he is still mostly synonymous with the Apu trilogy.

Lolita and Morality

Morality in Lolita:

            Lolita is the tale of forbidden love, abuse, obsession, and makes you rethink the concept of love. In one hand Humber Humbert’s obsession with Lolita is wrong and disgusting because she is twelve and he is an adult. But on the other hand he describes his love for her in a poetic and in what sounds like a very honest way. He describes it in how “normal” people who are in love would feel. Love is irrational for most, it is a love or death like feeling that engulfs your being to the core. This is what H.H. describes as what he feels for Lolita. He even thinks murderous thoughts of drowning her mom just to stay with her.

            It is interesting to see how Nabokov uses language to make the reader take his side and feel for him. He uses poetic language, “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins, my sin, my soul” to make the reader see him as a sophisticated intellectual that has a deeper understanding of love than most, at the same time showing that he is just a man with desire and needs like most men.

            The book is written in the point of view of H.H. (a criminal) so the whole time he is trying to convince you and lure you to think he’s right. You have to think about your own morals, what’s right and what’s wrong, when you’re reading the book. Sometimes you find yourself contradicting your beliefs like if this isn’t love then what is love?

            Obviously as you learn later, through H.H.’s dangerous and abusive actions, you can clearly see that Humbert Humbert is insane. He is a sick individual that happens to be very eloquent but a psycho nevertheless. 

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) DIRECTOR NOTES

This movie has to have a strong main actor for it to be successful, for he is the one who is the hero or antihero and that is the heart of the story. Jack Nicholson obviously fits perfectly as McMurphy. He needs to be witty, manly, and direct, confident, manipulative but still humane and friendly. Other actors who could play this role in my opinion could have been Robert Deniro or Sean Penn. For the Head Nurse the actress must play a hard-hearted, cold, and stern older woman. The Chief Indian guy should obviously be played by a tall actor with Native American characteristics and that can convey enough emotion with just gestures and no words. Any actor who can do a good crazy person acting job could play the rest of the loonies.

             The plot of the story is incredibly entertaining and has many twists and turns. It deals with mentally ill prisoners who are under the control of a tyrannical Head Nurse and wardens and are stuck in a system that is pitiless and unsympathetic to the patients. In all this mess McMurphy shows up and shakes everything up. He is defiant and sees the mistreatment of the loonies as wrong. I think this is a main theme of the story, revolting against the status quo and doing what you feel. Certainly many young people can relate to this while growing up.

            The set and setting is important too. The hospital should have an old-fashioned look with old furniture and should have a cold and desolate atmosphere. There should be a lot of grays and bland colors in for the set and the uniforms. This can give the scene an empty and hopeless feeling.

            Talking about the scenes, this screenplay is full of memorable ones. The basketball game is one that stands out and gives the movie some comedy and a lighter side. There should be a lot of noise and commotion from the crowd and this scene should be exciting and keep the viewer on the edge and rooting for the loonies because they are the underdogs. Another scene that stands out is at the end of the movie when they had the party. This is a scene hat should be emphasized with a lot of talking and drunken acting because they are consuming alcohol and dancing and having fun.

            There should also be close ups and special attention paid to the dialogue between McMurphy and the loonies because they have relationships that change and vary from person to person, for example at first they all like McMurphy but as he boasts and claims things his integrity is challenged by many of the loonies. He showed he meant business when he tried to pick up the machine and throw it out the window as he claimed. He failed and it led to his hands to bleed but it proved his point and showed his character as well. The blood in his hands should be emphasized to show this. One of the final scenes where Billy takes his own life is a pivotal scene and puts a grim ending to the wild night. The position of him laying face up on the table should be from a top angle to show the horror of the act.