Subarnarekha (Der Fluss Subarnarekha)

The conclusion of Ghatak’s refugee trilogy—and perhaps his greatest film. Ishwar, a bachelor, leaves a refugee commune; working at a foundry, he aims to secure the future of his younger sister and a foster child. Yet it is precisely his sense of duty and adherence to principle that plunge everyone into misfortune—a reflection of the Bengali fate, in which homelessness leads to spiritual uprooting and, inevitably, tragedy. A family drama spanning decades that nonetheless lives entirely in the moment; a film whose steady flow is abruptly interrupted by fierce, erratic, and expressive dramatizations, and in which profound intimacy and global events must—quite naturally—find a way to coexist in a state of restless, inescapable entanglement, much like life itself outside the cinema doors. Ghatak’s timelessness is most beautifully mirrored in the film’s concluding mantra: "Onward, onward."