Spring Break
Indian Film Series Beings With 'Home And The World'
Paige Nuzzolillo
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Focus
The conflict of the story centers on Nikhil's disagreement with his friend, Sandip. Nikhil allows his wife to become independent of his beliefs, even if that means ones different than his own. However, he states that he cannot morally contradict his own values by not helping the poor Muslims of Bengal and boycotting foreign goods. The film also centers on Bimala's changing character and introduction to the world outside of her house. She becomes easily influenced by Sandip's beliefs and changes from a hermit to a supporter of the rebel cause.
"Bimala has very strong emotions once she meets this person (Sandip). She gets swept up in the movement, and is not too sure she believes it herself. What I think is really tragic is that she blames her husband's death on herself, as a punishment. What Ray is so wonderful at doing, is discussing the complexity of women emerging from traditional roles, and a lot of his films deal with that idea."Professor Kathryn Myers, who conducts the six part Indian film series, said
Students reactions to the film were mixed, Justin Maher, 1st-semester molecular and cell biology major, read the novel by Rabindranath Tagore and was, "surprised that Ray was able to convey Tagore's book in a film. The book was a critique of nationalism, replete with dialogue and internal monologue. To turn that into a movie was impressive." 5th-semester art major, May Babcock, believed the film to be, "hard to follow along with what the characters were saying because of the subtitles, and I guess I didn't catch the references to the deities because I'm not familiar with the religious texts yet."
"If I had not read the book just a few days ago, I would have had no clue what was going on," Maher said, "It was not a free-standing film, and I do not see how it could be accurately portrayed in a film lasting less than a weekend. Personally, I liked it and thought it was as good a film as any man could make given the story he was trying to tackle. Without an extensive prior knowledge of the story, the movie admittedly would have been two hours and twenty minutes of confusion."
"Bimala has very strong emotions once she meets this person (Sandip). She gets swept up in the movement, and is not too sure she believes it herself. What I think is really tragic is that she blames her husband's death on herself, as a punishment. What Ray is so wonderful at doing, is discussing the complexity of women emerging from traditional roles, and a lot of his films deal with that idea."Professor Kathryn Myers, who conducts the six part Indian film series, said
Students reactions to the film were mixed, Justin Maher, 1st-semester molecular and cell biology major, read the novel by Rabindranath Tagore and was, "surprised that Ray was able to convey Tagore's book in a film. The book was a critique of nationalism, replete with dialogue and internal monologue. To turn that into a movie was impressive." 5th-semester art major, May Babcock, believed the film to be, "hard to follow along with what the characters were saying because of the subtitles, and I guess I didn't catch the references to the deities because I'm not familiar with the religious texts yet."
"If I had not read the book just a few days ago, I would have had no clue what was going on," Maher said, "It was not a free-standing film, and I do not see how it could be accurately portrayed in a film lasting less than a weekend. Personally, I liked it and thought it was as good a film as any man could make given the story he was trying to tackle. Without an extensive prior knowledge of the story, the movie admittedly would have been two hours and twenty minutes of confusion."
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