Days and Nights in the Forest

Days and Nights in the Forest was initially released in India as Aranyer din Ratri. The loose-hinged plot concerns four bachelors who go on holiday in the forest. While enjoying a break from the hurlyburly of city life, each man undergoes profound character developments and transformations. Also figuring in the proceedings is a group of humble forest dwellers, who prove not to be the rubes and rustics whom the bachelors assume them to be. Filmmaker Sayajit Ray retains the intense humanism of his earlier works with a tighter grasp on characterization and technique. His editing is not as revolutionary as before, but this works in the film’s favor. While most of the film is pleasant enough on surface, Ray’s disillusionment with the state of affairs in Indian society of the 1970s suffuses every frame. Days and Nights in the Forest earned a best picture nomination at the 1970 Berlin Film Festival. —allmovie guide