Watching Pather Panchali, the audience gets a feel for a family which never seems to catch a break. The film follows the lives of a poor family who are scrapping by in rural India. This is the first of a trilogy focusing on Apu, the young boy of the family. The film does not have a particularly happy look on life, as each of Apu’s family members eventually find their hope for a better life crushed in some way. Apu’s mother wanted to simple life without worry, but is stuck raising her children alone while he husband wanders the countryside as a priest. She must also deal with her frustratingly selfish elderly cousin, her judgmental neighbors, and she must deal with all of this while barely having enough money to feed her family. Apu’s sister dreams of various things all children dream of, such as seeing a train for the first time (which she succeeds in doing) and getting married. However, she dies from a lack of medical care, and is thus unable to fulfill her potential. And Apu’s father, the head of the house who is always full of optimism, finds work as a travelling priest. His true passion is to be become a writer of plays, but discovers that putting all his faith in fate has left him without a house, and without a daughter. Apu witnesses the crushing ambivalence of the universe to his family’s problems, and I believe that the message of the film is that trusting only in fate will leave you in an unfortunate place. Apu’s father embodies this the most, as at the end of the film he gives up hope to try and become a great writer and tells his friends that he has tried to live the way he wanted but it has only brought him misery. The only option is to try something new, to move away from the rural area that they are from, and find a better life. Perhaps it is not the life he had always wanted, but at least his family will not be faced with anymore pain and suffering. Sometimes it is necessary to know when to accept defeat. It is better to fail with dignity as a whole, than to be slowly broken down while desperately fighting back without hope. Dreams are good, and it is important to follow those dreams. But you must also be responsible, face facts and do not try to hold back a flood with one bucket.