Schatten der Zeit

"Shadows of Time" is a marvelous film. It takes you through 60 years of the life of its two main characters (Ravi and Masha) and tells the story of their unfulfilled love. The cinematography is outstanding, the acting is great, especially for Indian actors, the sets are so alive and the story telling is of a quality like you don't see it often these days. The film is slow, but in a nice way. You just need to open your heart and go with the story and it will just take you on the most amazing trip. I have seen many Indian films, but "Shadows of Time" is different, it gives you a glimpse of real India (opposed to film India), its colors, its faces, streets and light. The film takes place in Calcutta and it really transports the atmosphere of Calcutta from 40 years back.

Great!

A Bengali movie with English subtitles, directed by a German! It is set in the Jute mills of West Bengal where children used to be employed and exploited. The struggles of an ambitious Ravi, the protagonist, who saves money to get out of the system, how he realizes his ambitions and how he retains his humane nature in spite of his environment, forms the basis for an epic love story.

The acting is brilliant, the portrayal "international", so all adults should enjoy it. The production is highly optimized and gritty.

Some audiences may find it slow, but I thought it was well paced, the subtitles appropriate for people who know both languages.

A very recommended watch! Grab it on DVD if it doesn't come to a theater near you.

It might draw some tears from some people, but not from me (and there are films that I cry in). It's the kind of tear-jerker that is meant as Oscar-bait.

This is your standard boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds her again. Oh, and of course the boy is good-looking. The girl is beautiful. Because they are moral and hard-working, they do well in life.

Yes, there are poor kids ripped off and abused by unscrupulous adults, but if you didn't already know that, you need to travel more.

I agree with comeau and khajoor; this is "third world pathos".

this is pretty much what one would expect of a German film shot in India... especially one made by a German director as his first feature.

filled with "third world pathos", bathed in earth tones and warm colours, saturated with patronizing 'noble savage' ideas, the best thing one can say about "schatten der zeit" is that it is often picturesque. at the end of the day, calcutta is a very visually interesting place and juergen juerges a very fine cinematographer. all this is far from enough to save this movie, which is ultimately very offensive...

florian gallenberger is a very wealthy young German "aristocrat" (at least he claims to be) who achieved 'oscar' success with his short film "quiero ser", again set in a poor country and centered on the 'milieu of the miserable' to be found there. he has obviously decided this formula works for him, and decided to write a 'truly Indian' story set in calcutta (a city and country to which he had no connection beforehand). ultimately, people can and should do whatever they want, but I hope audiences don't choose to support such parasitical works with their money or attention... this film was deservedly a critical and commercial failure...

Florian must be thinking he is some sort of genius - but unfortunately he has not even grasped the basics of cinema - all the slickness and imagery cannot hide what is an absolutely regressive and atavistic screenplay.

Thanks to corneau, you are totally right. And to those who think this is a great film, my condolences to you all - you deserve only this much.

I worked on this film for a couple of days in the post-production stage of audio - ADR. I saw the film the night before i started on the work at the studio. I was very angry after seeing this film - but I could not say no to the work - it would have been unprofessional of me to do so at the last minute. I was relieved at the end of the two days of work and was happy to say goodbye to this film and it's maker.