The very Westernized thought process around the movie world is that “international” movies in the US usually mean a few places: Europe, China, Japan, and occasionally Russia. That leaves a huge chunk of the world’s stories undiscovered, or accounted for. Bollywood, India’s movie production industry, has been pumping out movies as early as the US: since the 1920s. Errol Flynn, Hollywood swordfighter extraordinaire, was Australian, obtaining fame down under before he migrated to the US.
In their storied movie histories, Australia and India were bound to have some sort of trilogy arc that people would discover at one point or another. Today, we have the former British Colonies do battle on something other than the cricket pitch.
The trilogy battle no one saw coming: The Mad Max Trilogy (pre Fury Road) vs. The Apu Trilogy.
Bowler 1: The World Building Franchise Starters
| Australia | India | |
| Movie Title | Mad Max (1979) | Pather Panchali (1955) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | After a horrible system shattering event, policemen try to establish order in a society living on the fringes of a new reality. | Story of a small Bengali family living in a rural village, and what their day to day lives look like. |
| The Case… | CAR CHASES! George Miller’s eye for car action is evident in the opening minutes, as you’re thrown eye bulge first into the crazy world of orderless post apocalyptic society. Mel Gibson’s Max is one of the few still holding on, as he has a family to protect, though we get glimpses of where he might be headed as strange characters and vehicles start popping up. Strange, and potentially very, very dangerous. | Satyajit Ray’s movies power depends on who is watching. If you need Mad Max like action in your story, his movies are boring. However, if you really pay attention, the power of Ray’s story sneaks up on you slowly. He’s a keen observer of Indian family life, telling small tales of the plight of working class folk: their integrity, their empathy, and their hard decision making to make ends meet. By the end, you feel like you’ve witnessed something totally normal, but very special, thanks to Ray’s smart, stoic storytelling and direction. |
The Verdict: Mad Max is in the middle of a tug of war of what it wants to be; Pather Panchali is one of the greatest Indian movies of all time. Easy choice on this one: Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece.
To keep the cricket theme, 1 run for India!
Bowler 2: Expanding the Story
| Australia | India | |
| Movie Title | Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) | Aparajito (1956) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | In the apocalyptic wasteland, rogue Max forms an uneasy alliance to take down marauders attacking a refinery. | Young Apu, now a teenager, gets an offer to attend school, which he is excited for, but his mother is reticent about, since she thought he would become a priest. |
| The Case… | Mad Max lives up to his name here. We’re alone with Mel Gibson and a dog as he wanders about Australian Anarchy, fighting and chasing his way across the wasteland for resources. George Miller ups the ante again, making even crazier characters, crazier vehicles, and more insane explosions than the low budgeted first film. | Satyajit Ray continues the style he used so effectively in Pather Panchali. The movie gets off to a clunky, melodramatic start, but once Apu gets in school, Ray gives us a master class of subtle heartbreaking truths that all parents and kids must learn as the children grow up, especially through the eyes of Apu’s mother, played wonderfully by Karuna Bannerjee. |
The Verdict: Both are really close, but The Road Warrior is insane in all the right ways: a thrill ride end to end.
Run for Australia, 1 -1! What’ll happen in the finale?
Bowler 3: The End…?
| Australia | India | |
| Movie Title | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) | The World of Apu (1959) |
| Rating | ||
| The Hook | Society destroyed, Max finds himself in the semblance of Bartertown, a new village built on the paradigms of the world’s new reality. | Apu leaves school to become a free living novelist…only to stumble into a marriage he unwillingly gets drawn into. |
| The Case… | George Miller gets more interested in the world of Mad Max in this one. He creates a society one generation removed from global connectivity, showing us what happens when humanity devolves. There’s still car chases thankfully, but he adds in the titular thunderdome, which is also exciting, and some stuff that goes on too long, like a kiddie cult worshipping a downed plane. But anytime Tina Turner can be ruling a city, you know this movie’s gonna be at least a little fun. | Like the 2nd installment, Ray has a mixed time getting us into the story, setting up how happy Apu is to be on his own, then plotting him to be in a marriage he didn’t want. When settling Apu and his wife into a new life together, Ray shines with his sharp eye for everyday life, as the pair abandon all past personal ambitions to create a new collective one. The third act is clunky and takes some of the power of the story away, but has its moments of capturing an ordinary but amazing life lived. Also, Ravi Shankar’s music is great through the whole trilogy, but really shines in this finale. |
The Verdict: Neither film is the series at its best, sadly. I give a slight edge to Beyond Thunderdome, for doing more interesting world building than The World of Apu, which betrays some of Ray’s subtle magic with melodrama.
In the head to head battle, film by film, Australia wins. But what about the overall rating of the trilogy as a whole?