The Polish doco for the BFI’s Century of Cinema distinguishes itself from all the others in the series by being the only one not to have any film critics, academics, directors, etc providing a commentary.  Instead it takes the refreshing route of having ordinary people of all ages talking about what’s special to them about movies – so we get some old folks describing their first trip to the cinema when a lot of people didn’t even know what a film was, memories of what it was like to go to the movies as children, teenagers, and adults before, during, and after WWII, and especially the key scenes from films that have made lasting impressions upon them (not unexpectedly, Wajda’s KANAL strikes a nerve), which are shown in accompaniment, so that it becomes the interviewees who ultimately decide what’s shown in the doco.  This kind of stuff is what the ‘100 Years of Cinema’ celebration is really about.

　　一部非常具有匈牙利特点的电影，无论是人物的服装，周围的环境还是影片要表达的主旨上都是典型的匈牙利风格。英国电影评论家David Robinson曾经断言这部影片在2000年以前从未在匈牙利以外的任何国家被广泛接受过，因为很多匈牙利人相信这部影片太过本土化而并不能得到其他国家人们的理解和认同。然而电影是超越国界的语言，我们会被其中任何一点优秀的品质所打动，Huszarik的改编和萨拉的摄影都是非传统的，色彩斑斓的，并且是有创造力的，这就已经足够了。影片表达的是对生命的赞美，描绘自然界中生命的循环往复和人们追忆旧梦时光时的感叹，并在正常的情节发展过程中搀入了男女主角无序的回忆片断，关于他们曾经放荡不羁的爱情生活，影像如油画般精美（Huszarik同时也是一位著名的画家）。
　　1972年曼海姆-海登堡国际电影节约瑟夫·冯·斯特恩伯格奖
　　1988年入选匈牙利现代电影50年十佳影片

　　Siddartha (Dhritiman Chatterjee) is forced to discontinue his medical studies due to unexpected and brutal death of his father. He has to now find a job in stead. In one job interview, he is asked to name the most significant world event in the last ten years. His reply is 'the plain human courage shown by the people of Vietnam', instead of the expected - man landing on moon. The interviewer asks is he is a communist. Needles to say that he does not get the job.
　　He reaches a coffee shop where he is offered to work for the communist party. When he does not show any interest the party leader tells him about an opening for a medical representative. To escape from the heat and have a snooze, he goes in to a cinema. As a government propaganda newsreel is being shown before the feature, a bomb explodes in the cinema hall. In the stampede that follows, Siddartha, breaks his watch. He goes to a watchmaker but he cannot afford the repairs.
　　Waiting to cross the road, he notices a sexy girl. He drifts back to his days as a medical student in a flashback. The professor is explaining anatomy of female breast. Many flashbacks and dreams occur to Siddartha through the film.
　　On his way to hostel, he has an encounter with some hippies. Along with an ex-classmate, he goes out to see a porn film but to their disappointment, the film turns out to be not-so-pornographic.
　　In such constant wandering in a Calcutta, disintegrated relationships with his sister and a Naxalite (militant communist) brother, his friendship with Keya is only thing that keeps him sane.
　　Keya is a simple girl. They enjoy each other's company but they cannot make any commitment to each other due to the circumstances.
　　After yet another attempt at a job interview, Siddartha leaves the big city to take a modest job of a salesman in a far off small town. He writes to Keya that he still cherishes their relationship. And that he has heard that bird call again but this time it is for real, and not his mind. After completing the letter, he comes out to the balcony of his modest room. The bird calls again. He also hears the sombre chants of a funeral procession. As he turns to the camera, the picture is frozen.
　　This is the first film of the Calcutta Trilogy. The other two were and Seemabaddha (Company Limited, 1971) and Jana Aranya (The Middle Man, 1975). All the three films study the effect the big city of Calcutta has on the educated youth and the price it extracts from them.
　　The seventies were a difficult period for India and West Bengal. The Corruption was rampant; the Naxalite movement had created havoc in Calcutta. In fact, they had turned parts of Calcutta into 'liberated zones'. By the time the Naxalite movement died down, in 1975, Mrs. Indira Gandhi (then, Prime Minister of India) suppressed the fundamental rights and declared "Emergency" for her own political survival. Her son, Sanjay Gandhi became a dictator of sorts without any official designation. The opposition leaders were thrown into prisons.
　　About his social responsibilities as a filmmaker, in an interview with Cineaste magazine, Ray commented, "You can see my attitude in The Adversary where you have two brothers. The younger brother is a Naxalite. There is no doubt that the elder brother admires the younger brother for his bravery and convictions. The film is not ambiguous about that. As a filmmaker, however, I was more interested in the elder brother because he is the vacillating character. As a psychological entity, as a human being with doubts, he is a more interesting character to me. The younger brother has already identified himself with a cause. That makes him part of a total attitude and makes him unimportant. The Naxalite movement takes over. He, as a person, becomes insignificant."
　　In a letter to Seton in 1970, Ray wrote that Pratidwandi was the most provocative film he had made till then. The film is said to have evoked extreme reactions. "People either loved the film or hated it", Dhritiman Chatterjee told Andrew Robinson, Ray's biographer.