Watched The Roof recently and loved it. To me it was reminiscent of black and white movies from the same time that were made in India with similar themes - the lack of personal space, privacy, the fight for meagre resources in large multi-generational families and the the bonds of family and community. The newly weds in the story have nothing but their love for each other and the desire to provide a roof over the head of their soon to arrive baby. Every attempt they make to find a place of their own is thwarted by obstacles and yet they persist. The movie is about the crushing grind of poverty and yet it is a happy one. Black and white movies are very much a part of my childhood when only newer movies were color. In the town I grew up, there was a sizeable Bengali community that organized showings of older Bangla movies.
My parents followed their schedule very closely and on Friday evenings after school, it was common for my mother and I to get dressed and walk over to this theater. My father came directly from work. By the time we all got there it would be close to show-time and the place would be buzzing with snack and chai vendors. We got our supplies and went into the dark auditorium. The taste of the vegetable chop and with sugary chai in a clay cups were an intrinsic part of the experience. Many of the movies I saw during that time were a couple of decades old and held nostalgic value for my parent's generation. While most of what I saw was not particularly memorable, this is where I became familiar with the work of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and Goutam Ghosh. De Sica's Bicycle Thief had inspired Ray to make his first film. The influence and inspiration is plainly evident in The Roof as it is in Bicycle Thief.
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