The World of Apu by Satyajit Ray - Essay Example

The main theme of this movie is the journey of the life of the protagonist; however this subject alone does not contribute to the masterpiece, instead, the manner in which each scene has been shown is what leads to it.

For example, after Apu gets married to Aparna and returns to the city of Calcutta with her, there can be a change seen in Apu’s bedroom. The manner in which the two speak to each other is enough to show the viewer the level of intimacy that they share. From the first chapter related to photography, a number of techniques have been applied in the film for example, in the scene where Apu is seen grieving over the death of his wife; he reads the letter from him again as the focus of the camera takes a close up of his face.

This helps to concentrate completely on his character and show the viewer the kind of pain he was going through. The little facts like the camera then moving to his shaving mirror help to show that he is not interested in his daily activities due to the trauma that has been inflicted on him. He states that “The aesthetic qualities of photography are to be sought in its power.” this indicates that the beauty of a shot lies in the way the scene has been captured on camera. Giannetti states that mise en scene is an analysis of everything that can be viewed in the film.

A number of scenes in the movie have been portrayed as a collision to each other; for example, a scene from Apu’s life which contains a great amount of emotion has been juxtaposed with another in order to form a ‘visually creative and appealing design’, as per Giannetti. According to him, a ‘mise en scene analysis of any shot should contain fifteen elements’ right from the angle and the lighting of the shot, to the composition, contrast and density and the placement of the characters within the shot.

A number of more elements add to the entirety of this aspect and technique of shooting a scene as well. In Ray’s movie, there are a number of scenes that show this too. For example, this technique has been used very well in a few of the last scenes where Apu is in the quarry and Polu approaches him regarding reuniting with his son. The camera angles and use of colours on the screen help to deliver a lot of emotion directly to the viewer. All over the world, this film has received excellent criticism as directors like Martin Scorsese and Godard have tried to use the same techniques as Ray to incorporate within their movies.

After watching this film, I understood classical movies a lot better and the kind of techniques used here helped to stimulate my mind greatly because it is not only about the idea, but film making lies a lot on the execution of the idea alone.