Two (1964)

Original title

দুই

Directed by

Satyajit Ray

Genre

silent film

Country

India

Runtime

15 min

Rated

PG

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 47 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A rich child and a street child meet through a window. They show off toys to each other in a silent game of one-upmanship. The film has no dialogue and uses music and sound to tell the story.

quietplayfulwordlessgentleobservationalnostalgiclightheartedbittersweet

What happens

Two: A Film Fable is a 1964 Indian black-and-white short film directed by Satyajit Ray. The film was made under the banner of Esso World Theater at the request of a non-profit American public broadcasting television, PBS. It was made as part of a trilogy of short films from India. The other two films in the trilogy featured Indian Sitar player, Pandit Ravi Shankar and a Ballet troupe from Mumbai, then known as "Bombay". Ray, who worked prominently for Bengali cinema, was requested to make a film in English language with a Bengali setting, however Ray being an admirer of silent film decided to make a film without any dialogue as a tribute to the genre. The short film shows an encounter between a child of a rich family and a street child, through the rich kid's window. The film is made without any dialogue and displays attempts of One-upmanship between kids in their successive display of their toys. The film portrays the childlike rivalry with the help of world of noise and that of music. The film is among less known films of Ray but experts rated the film as one of Ray's best. It is often regarded as a prelude to another Ray film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969). Made during the Vietnam War, experts believe that the film makes "a strong anti-war statement"[which experts] as it ends with street kid's flute sound overpowering sound of expensive toys. Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation, took an initiative to restore Satyajit Ray's films and could successfully restore 19 Ray films. Two was preserved in 2006. The film's original script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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