Distant Thunder

Released Jun 1, 1973

1h 40m

Drama

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100%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

91%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Famine and war threaten to tear apart a Bengal village during the '40s -- as well as the marriage of Gangacharan (Soumitra Chatterjee), who has assumed the role of religious leader and teacher, and his wife, Ananga (Babita). At first, life in the village moves along at a tranquil ebb and flow, but as food runs out and the specter of war looms ever closer, societal unrest builds. In the face of disaster, Ananga does what is best for the people while her husband seeks to preserve traditional ways.

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

The film is delicately, ambiguously beautiful.

Oct 19, 2023

Full Review

Jay Cocks

TIME Magazine

A tragedy of such magnitude becomes an event abstracted by arithmetic. But Ray's artistry alters the scale. His concentrating on just a few victims of the famine causes such massive loss to become real, immediate.

Mar 18, 2013

Full Review

Tom Milne

Time Out

Distant thunder, indeed; a superb film.

Sep 8, 2011

Full Review

Jimmy Cage

Jimmy Cage Movie Reviews (YouTube)

DISTANT THUNDER is an elegiac, thoughtful and startling film that shows the horrors of war and its inhumane effects from the perspective of the inhabitants of a small village in Bengal. This film has not only artistic but also historic value.

Rated: 8/10

Mar 13, 2022

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A gentle humanist film that informs the world that over five million died of starvation and epidemics in Bengal.

Rated: A-

Mar 11, 2014

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Audience Member

another winner from Ray.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Satyajit Ray's "Distant Thunder" falls flat in the last thirty five minutes. The film's setting is in a small village of Bengal, India during World War II. It observes the consequences of war and the Great Famine of 1943 through the eyes of a Brahmin (high caste) couple, who are the only Brahmins in the village. Even though the video quality of the film was poor, I still was able to appreciate some of the beautiful images. These images seemed to me more like Ozu's "pillow shots," as Ebert informs in "Ozu: The masterpieces you've missed." Soumitra Chatterjee (one of my favorite actors, still alive) performs very well as the doctor-teacher Brahmin, who is treated almost like a messiah, since he is the only literate in the village. Ray's gradual development of what is happening in the village is commendable, but the result of these developments shows zero profit in the end. Of some of the reviews I've read, this film is quite praised, however I just felt it chose an easy way out. It is a mediocre picture that does not even compete with Ray's second-tier works.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

classic ray, in his element

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Amazing movie, seems to be happening before my eyes. The most poignant moment is that when the hero goes to a far off village to buy rice but is offered a meal instead. He is in such dilema as he can't have the food because his wife is hugry back home.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A look at the devastating Bengal famine of 1943, and its effects on one village, and one privileged couple in particular. I believe this is Satyajit Ray's first color film, and it's one of the better ones. The photography is quite good. This isn't among Ray's very best work (nor Soumitra Chatterjee's) but it's definitely worth watching, although (naturally) very depressing.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A magnificent underrated (?) film - this one is not spoken of in the same categiry as the Apu trilogy but is just as good

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Satyajit Ray

Director

Soumitra Chatterjee

Gangacharan Chakravarti

Babita

Ananga, Gangacharan's wife

Sandhya Roy

Chutki

Chitra Banerjee

Moti

Anil Ganguly

Nibaran

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Synopsis

Famine and war threaten to tear apart a Bengal village during the '40s -- as well as the marriage of Gangacharan (Soumitra Chatterjee), who has assumed the role of religious leader and teacher, and his wife, Ananga (Babita). At first, life in the village moves along at a tranquil ebb and flow, but as food runs out and the specter of war looms ever closer, societal unrest builds. In the face of disaster, Ananga does what is best for the people while her husband seeks to preserve traditional ways.

Director: Satyajit Ray
Screenwriter: Satyajit Ray
Production Co: Angel Digital Private Limited
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Bangla
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 1973, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 26, 2017
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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