Satyajit Ray - Ashani Sanket - Distant Thunder (1973)

Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder), a movie made by Satyajit Ray in 1973. I had seen before only his first three movies, the Apu Trilogy. I haven't dared to speak about them on the blog, so far: I keep them as the masterpiece of the masterpieces.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 1/10
(video by taipeistory)

If it's someone greater even than Ozu, then Satyajit Ray is.

Here is what taipeistory (who published on youTube the whole Distant Thunder, in 10 successive videos) says:

Distant Thunder is the work of a director who has learned the value of narrative economy to such an extent that the movie, which is set against the backdrop of the man made famine that wiped out 5 million people in 1943, has the simplicity of a fable. Though its field of vision is narrow, more or less confined to the social awakening of a young village Brahmin and his pretty, naive wife, the sweep of the film is so vast that, at the end, you feel as if you'd witnessed the events from a satellite. You've somehow been able to see simultaneously the curvature of the earth and the insects on the blades of field grass.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 2/10
(video by taipeistory)

What makes Satyajit Ray unique?

I think he is treating a fundamental theme: the conflict between History and Cosmos.

History: what humans perceive as past, present and future, their system of values, their sense of progress. Cosmos: what is eternal while in continuous change, what is not necessarily beyond our reality while being beyond our past, present, future, beyond our history, collective or individual, beyond our logic, our values.

Is Cosmos the place of Gods? Maybe, not necessarily: if they exist, it's not because we believe in them. If they do not exist, it's not because we do not believe in them. They do exist or do not, beyond our powers of decision, beyond our knowledge, beyond History.

I think this is the image Ray has on Cosmos and History.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 3/10
(video by taipeistory)

And he speaks with gravity about this. Gravity, yes, not emphasis; seriousness, not dryness. Because he has empathy for the belief of humans in the logic of history, of their past, present and future; though he knows that the ultimate reality is beyond us, the ultimate outcome. Actually this is what makes his movies so poignant: his empathy for our illusions.

Profundity in extreme simplicity: his succession of scenes have a biblical profundity and simplicity.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 4/10
(video by taipeistory)

Here in Distant Thunder a young Brahmin is convinced of the importance of his civilizational mission. He is the village priest, the officiant of the sacred rites, he is also the physician, and he struggles to make villagers understand the necessity of the hygiene rules, of medical control and medical treatments. He is also the teacher, and he struggles to bring the kids of the village to school. He is clearly the man of progress, acting in History, to build the future.

Images from Distant Thunder: Part 5/10
(video by taipeistory)

It is 1943: the war brings in that part of India a radical shortage of rice - a great famine that will make millions of victims.

The accepted values of the village start to shift. Struggle for survival brings loss of solidarity, loss of dignity; but beyond anything else there is terrible starvation, the only thing that matters any more.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 6/10
(video by taipeistory)

And the young Brahmin is starting to realise, step by step, the relativity of his values, and the ultimate truth, the only one that is important: the sense of humility.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 7/10
(video by taipeistory)

And all this is taking part while the Nature remains indifferent to our tragedies: the insects play on the blades of the field grass, flowers and leaves blossom in warm colors, sunshine comes, then rain, then sunshine again; Eternity in continuous change, beyond our powers, our decisions, our understanding.

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 8/10
(video by taipeistory)

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 9/10
(video by taipeistory)

Image from Distant Thunder: Part 10/10
(video by taipeistory)

(Satyajit Ray)