Welcome to Match #2 of Auteur Tennis, featuring Indian director Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) and Polish director Andrzej Wajda (1926). Both directors established their careers in the 1950s with trilogies: Ray with the Apu trilogy, Wajda with the war trilogy. Ray’s Apu trilogy consists of Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and The World of Apu. Wajda’s war trilogy features A Generation, Kanal, and Ashes and Diamonds, which is available in a boxed set from the Criterion Collection. Ray’s Apu trilogy is difficult to find for purchase.

Both directors were influenced by realism and wanted to show the world what life was like in their respective countries. Unlike the auteurs from our first match, both Ray and Wajda remain rooted in their homelands. Change was a major factor driving their work. For Ray, the modernization of India is a key theme. For Wajda, the destruction of Poland’s identity during and after World War II pervades his films. Wajda worked under heavy censorship, while Ray, once established, did not have that worry. Ray earned an honorary Acadamy Award in 1992, and Wajda took one home in 1999.

The schedule:
Set #1: Pather Panchali and A Generation (1955)
Set #2: Aparajito (1956) and Kanal (1957)
Set #3: The World of Apu (1959) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Set #4: Nayak the Hero (1966) and Everything for Sale (1968)
Set #5: The Chess Player and Man of Marble (1977)

I will post a new set every Tuesday starting on June 9. In the meantime, I will be posting a review of Whale Rider for Film for the Soul’s series on the best films of the noughties.