Phantom India

Thoughtful, personal, reflective... words seem insufficient to describe this. Such a great artist Malle was. As Pauline Kael wrote, "It's an incomparable vision of the poetic insanity of India." I would add that it's an absolute must for anyone with even a passing interest in India--not so much modern India ( in any case, the India of today is very different from the India of 1968), but the India of spiritual, religious and cultural tradition.

An expansive examination of the social, cultural, economic and political attributes of an incredibly diverse country. Highly recommended if you are into that sort of thing.

About as good as you could possibly expect from a made-for-TV documentary portrait of India half a century ago. After starting by drawing attention to his outsider status, Malle explores a wide range of subjects with some complexity, collecting much impressive footage along the way.

Never dull for a moment, the film examines the great complexities of India's social structure, politics, economics, religion and culture. It's thoroughly fascinating. Where Malle loses me is in some of the narration. At first he acknowledges his role as an outsider looking into a strange culture, but as the film progresses, he gets more judgmental. Though rarely condescending, he appears to have something of a pro-Communist agenda. Nonetheless, it's a really informative and watchable film.