Two
1964 · 12m · India
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, mythic
A wealthy boy and a poor street child face off through a window, each showing off their toys in escalating one-upmanship. Made entirely without dialogue, the film ends with the street child's simple flute overpowering the rich boy's expensive, noisy toys — a quiet fable about class divide and the nature of happiness.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Ray asked to make a film in English and made one with no dialogue at all — that's the kind of contractual disobedience I respect. The flute beats the gadgets, every time.
Ray's wordless class fable is so distilled it nearly becomes a folktale, and the flute defeating the noisy expensive toys is precisely the kind of ending only a master attempts. Vimeo requires captcha, but the film is widely findable.
Ray was commissioned to shoot in English for US TV and chose silence instead - composing the flute melody himself that ends up overpowering the rich boy's noisy toys. Vimeo has it behind a security check so playback isn't confirmable, but the formal bet is canonical.
Reviews
This wordless experience leaves us equally speechless, as if enchanted by a spell.
In just 12 minutes, Satyajit Ray's Two maps the class divide with devastating simplicity.
Festivals
- Esso World Theater (PBS) 1964