Distant Thunder

The subject matter of this small masterpiece is the famine which killed millions of people in Bengal during the war years after 1942 when Japan controlled Burma and a source of rice for India was then cut off. The "distant thunder" is the sound of an alien war, seemingly irrelevant, which nevertheless spreads its havoc. The central character is a Brahmin priest-teacher-doctor (Soumitra Chatterji) who with his wife (Babita)is forced to choose between survival for themselves or compassion for others less well-off than they are when confronted by scarcity, hoarding, and profiteering. Out of this background of horror and deprivation, the gifted director of the APU TRILOGY has fashioned a compassionate and understated picture leading inexorably to a haunting concluding image which must surely etch itself permanently into the memories and consciences of every viewer. This is a truly magnificent film.