Calcutta
France, 1969, 35mm, color, 105 min.
French with English subtitles.
Throughout the years, even at the height of his success, Louis Malle would return to the documentary, perhaps as a way of refreshing himself, of returning to his roots, or as a way of drawing inspiration for future projects. From 1968 to 1970 he devoted himself to a series of films on India. The first in the series was this fascinating, impressionistic portrait of India's second most populous city, the capital of the state of West Bengal, which at the time was suffering under martial law. According to Malle, "The first few days we were walking around with a camera it took us a while to find–I don't know–the innocence, I suppose; to deal with reality as it was, and not try to distort it or interpret it, but just be there, and film it... We were sort of witnesses, but we never pretended that we were part of it or even understood it."
