Satyajit Ray’s Short Film ‘Two’ Is An Allegorical Take On The Vietnam War

In 1964, a non-profit government-funded television programming distributor in America named PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) requested the eminent Indian filmmaker, Satyajit Ray to make an English-language film in a Bengali setting. The idea didn’t quite appeal to Ray, who decided to do away with the spoken word altogether in the film.

The film begins with a flash of old Calcutta, eventually moving on to present a duel between a child from a well-to-do family and one from a poor family. The two young boys keep trying to outperform the other through various antics with the toys each of them has.

The entire scene takes place in the middle of a lonely afternoon when the rest of the world seemed to sleep. In order to outshine the poor boy, the rich one brandishes his own expensive electronic trumpet at the window and starts blowing it. They eventually go on to proudly exhibit their toys and masks to each other-the rich kid’s expensive ones, and the poor boy’s cheap, handmade ones. The short film ends on an ironic note as the electronic robot he had been playing with walks towards the tower that he had built, and crushes it with one stomp of its foot. This is a symbolic reflection on how civilisation ends up being the reason for its own destruction. Such are the vagaries of time.

This film was made in 1962, when the Vietnam War was at its peak. As many other works of Ray, this film too is an allegorical effort on the part of the director to show how the poor peasants of Vietnam put up a brave front against the superpower that is America. Dealing with themes like loneliness, industrialization, materialism, war, inequality and mankind’s thirst for power, this film directed by Ray is a masterpiece. In his own words, this is “a film that packs quite a punch in its 10 minutes.”

You can watch the entire film below

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