I've just moved to Bangladesh for work and thought that one way of learning about the place is to watch some films made here. This is the first one I've seen, chosen almost at random at a local DVD shop. It's set in a rural area at an unspecified time and focuses on a varied set of characters. Montu is a young bachelor and he starts to fall in love with Tuni. She also falls for him but she is already married - to an old man who has two other wives! That's the basic story but the film shows many other characters and situations. There is another woman who also falls for Montu (lucky guy), there's an evil wife-beater, a daughter who doesn't want to get married, and various other characters in the village.
Despite the title (in English, 'Symphony of Agony') it's not all grim. There are funny scenes, songs, and some nice scenery. But there is a fair amount of thwarted love, desperation, and a cholera-outbreak.
The film is very slowly paced. This will be frustrating if you're used to the frenetic pace of most modern films but if you accept that the film wants to tell its story slowly then you'll get a lot more enjoyment from it. The acting is generally fine and the direction is good but the scenes are sometimes stilted. The film is episodic in structure so you can enjoy parts even if others make no sense; it's not always clear what is going on, and why characters are doing what they do.
There's also an interesting framing device, whereby the story of the film is told by a singer who is telling it by song to some village people, and then something curious happens at the end - but I'm not spoiling it!
Recommended.
