An Enemy of the People

A public health hazard threatens the lives of an entire city, but when a doctor discovers the truth about its cause, a politician fears that disclosing it will hurt tourism and the local economy. Moreover, in contradiction to science, religious leaders believe that the town will be protected without taking any action, relying on superstitious beliefs. The health issue thus becomes politicized, the heart of this drama, and the one who is trying to tell people the truth is branded an "enemy of the people" by those not acting in the community's best interest. It's brother against brother, when everyone should be working together to prevent an epidemic. The politician distorts the truth in a fiery speech to a crowd, playing on their anger and ignorance, and manipulates others into speaking against him as well.

Satyajit Ray saw in Ibsen's 1882 play truths that applied to India over a century later, and it's easy to see the parallels to the events in America and other nationalist countries over the past couple years, which are really quite striking. That's something that could have really resonated with me, but the trouble is, the film is too lethargic to really enjoy. Most of its scenes are indoors, dialogue-heavy, and repetitive. There is just not enough meat on the bones of this story, and the characters are flat. It has its heart in the right place, and imagining people in the current public eye as the characters in the film provided some level of enjoyment, so for those things it was worth seeing, even if it did fall a little short.

Doctor Soumitra Chatterjee has been tracking the source of an epidemic and has concluded, after laboratory reports, that that water in the local temple has been polluted and causing the outbreak. Yet there are strong forces opposing him, not only the reigious conservatives, but business interests who see that temple as a souce of tourism and revenue. Even his brother is ranged against him, and more than willing to destroy him rather than close down the temple to fix the problem.

Satyajit Ray;s movie is based on Ibsen's 1882, and sticks mainly to the original's concerns, despite some changes made for its Indian setting. Ray's handling and ending is a little more standardized that the play, but it remains a powerful piece.

Poor health dogged Satyajit Ray during his last days. Critics have opined that his last works do not measure up to his earlier films. GANASHATRU, based on a play 'Enemy of the people' by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, is among the final works of the most famous Indian filmmaker ever. The film may be weaker in comparison to some of his best works, but this drama has a Contemporaneity in the Indian context, and in this respect, the film has a greater relevance than his well-appreciated works. The film which showcases the story of an upright doctor (Soumitro Chattopadhyay) facing a hostile municipal chairman his own brother (Dhritiman Chattopadhyay) and a hostile society for suspecting contaminated water from a temple to cause a lethal strain of Hepatitis killing several people in a mofussil town, is in essence a thought-provoking 'science versus religion' essay. Ray is possibly the only reputed Indian filmmaker who has questioned blind religious beliefs in his works (Devi, Mahapurush, Ganashatru).

"Ganashatru" is certainly one of the best movies of Satyajit Ray, though not one of his most popular ones. The story is set up in a small town of India and is brutally realistic. The film depicts the superstitions and ignorance one might find in an Indian town (or for that matter in any Indian City). The main characters are brilliantly portrayed by Soumitra Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey, Subhendu Chatterjee and Dhritiman. The reason this movie has not had any popularity is mainly because of the blind religious superstitions that lives amongst most of us and has blinded us in seeing the truth.

A must watch, if one believes that film makers have a duty towards educating the society.

Ray adapts an Ibsen play. This feels very much like a made-for-TV movie, and it's a bit of a slog, especially up front, but it gains momentum as it goes on and is pretty interesting. Dr. Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) discovers that the holy water from a popular local temple is infected with bacteria. Fixing the problem will be costly and a lot of people are against it, including Gupta's brother (Dhritiman Chatterjee), a bureaucrat. Eventually, Dr. Gupta finds himself in deep disapproval of the community, a virtual pariah. This is part of a recently released Eclipse set, Late Ray, but can also be watched on Hulu Plus.