I was pleasantly surprised by this film, which I found on Amazon Prime. I can usually take or leave Indian art movies, but this one grabbed me. It is an anthology of downbeat stories involving the plight of Indian citizens in the 20th Century. Not all of the stories take taking place in 1971 despite the title.
The first story is set in 1971. A man is on trial for breaking a store window and stealing a suit off a dummy. This story is shot in a minimalistic style (a bare courtroom which looks like a void). I was impressed by the technique.
The second story was set during a heavy rainstorm as an Indian family has to decide whether or not to move out of their home. This story was probably my favorite.
I also very much liked the third story where a man travels to visit friends of the family (the eldest daughter was a former flame). He finds the mother and two daughters living as squatters in an apartment complex and making some hard choices to survive.
The fourth story deal with rice smugglers. These are children of poor families stealing rides on trains to illegally sell rice miles away. The other, more well off, passengers on the train do not like these children and eventually petty violence erupts. There is a lot of heart to this story even if the ending leaves a bit too much unresolved.
The last story is both the most experimental and also the most didactic. Like the first story, it is set in 1971, a rich, self-absorbed sort is hosting a party and giving his long-winded opinions on everything. The film keeps cutting away from the party to scenes of fighting, striking, and young-looking Indians in a garage band blasting away psychedelic style music in the Blow-Up fashion. I kind-of liked the visual and aural experience, but I did find some of the points heavy-handedly made.
The print on Prime runs about fifteen minutes shorter than the running time listed on IMDB. I don't know what the differences are between the two versions. My guess is that some scenes have been cut around the frame story dealing with a youth being killed by the police, which barely registers in the version I saw. That is just a guess though. Regardless of running time, Calcutta 71 is well worth checking out. It is the first film I have seen from director Mrinal Sen, but I hope it isn't my last.
