User Reviews

This is on Youtube.

I noticed there are no infos on the movie, and I don't know much about Ray himself, but I felt I should write something.

This short film is about a rich Indian kid who, upon seeing a kid in the garden in front of his house play a flute, immediately engages in a competition with him to see who owns the better toys.

It's a simple film with clear dramatic undertones and dealings of delicate themes, like greed, hate and separation. I'd love to give more info about it, but I am afraid I don't know enough about it to.

The film is shot in black and white on a small film camera. It's very raw, but conformist in its narrative structure.

Out of his two short films, this one is the best. I do not remember properly, but I think this is a silent film.

Some directors can take three hours to say nothing. Others such as Charles Burnett and Satyajit Ray can say something meaningful and even profound in less than twenty minutes. An example is Ray's 12-minute short Two: A Film Fable, a story of two young boys who live close to each other but exist in different worlds. Ray was asked to make a TV short for Esso World Theater in English, but he chose instead to make a silent film that speaks volumes about the reality of class distinctions in India in the 1960s.

In the film, a young boy from a wealthy family (Ravi Kiran), is alone in his house trying to amuse himself with the toys that surrounds him. When he hears a flute playing he goes to the window and sees a small dark Indian boy from a neighboring slum standing in the field adjacent to his back yard. The game they play is known pejoratively as "one-upmanship." When he hears the flute, he joins in with a toy trumpet that drowns out the flute. When the poor boy gets his drum, the rich boy counters with his own tin drum.

When the Indian boy starts to fly his paper kite with a big smile on his face, his combatant friend shoots it down with an air gun and he leaves dejectedly. The rich boy returns to his Westernized wind-up robots and Mickey Mouse hat and thinks he is the winner until he again hears the plaintive sounds of the flute while sitting in his room alone. The look on his face tells us that he knows that he has won the battle but lost the war. The film may be suggestive of the director's attempt to paint a picture of the isolation of Westernized upper-class Indians as contrasted with the freedom of India's common people.

Attempted analysis of short Film By Satyajit Ray – Two "There has been recent attempt to restore some Ray's work by the world & a recent digital restoration of Ray's lesser known work called as Two – which is a 12 minute short film. My analysis is on this 12 minute short film in points. This film is a Fable. It teaches you a moral at multiple levels based on your maturity level. The broad story line is about two kids from opposite layer of the Indian society of 1960's playing alone in their house & the film is shot from the view of the rich kid. The movie starts with the rich kid being bored in his bungalow of foreign toys, balloon and cold drinks. He hears a flute playing & observes a poor kid playing that across his window. The kids then compete with their respective toys & end with the poor kid happy flying his kite but just momentarily as the rich kid shoots the kite down with his air rifle. The morals are below as per audience & there may be more – a) The easiest moral is rich suppressing the poor, nothing to write on that b) The next level of thought is ; two worlds colliding where there is a battle and then a war. The rich kid wins the battle initially when he shoots the kite but loses the war as the poor kid again picks his flute and starts playing. This is evident from the tower of pisa toys that falls down in last frame. The rich kid loses the war c) We move higher, happiness verses consumerism. The rich kid has imported cold drinks and maybe ripe apples to eat as he plays but then he has no hunger and joy. He casually flips from room to room along his toys until he comes to the window. The poor kid has the camera span across the field hence infinite possibilities. Happiness has nothing to do with consumerism d) Higher again, momentary nature of ego. The rich kid while alone flips toys, rolls over the sofa & sees his recently celebrated birthday balloons still hanging over the ceiling. He rolls a match stick & starts bursting the balloons. He simply drops this and moves on once he burst two balloons. He fails to celebrate an old friend, here the balloon from yesterday's birthday which was probably so splendid earlier. Ego has no mind no brain e) Politics. Ray was influenced by Vietnam war. His film chronology suggests he did Gupi Gyne after this. He was building his base for the under dogs. The ripe paddy fields with one solo hut (not a slum) indicate the poor's kid parents were maybe cultivators or land labours. On the other side, a carbonated drink & Mickey Mouse hat conveys Western influence f) Finally, Ray salutes indomitable spirit of mankind. The film is a celebration of human spirit. The ability to jump back from a loos and play back the flute of life

In case you liked this you may watch his short film trilogy. The next two were on Ballet troupe and Pandit Ravi Shankar. The well known Sikkim documentary was much later in 70's. Ray never celebrated or sold India's poverty, he did make a statement out of it. He asked us the hard questions."

TWO, a antiwar (VIETNAM) film by Satyajit Ray, is a worth watching experience. However, this film impact much better then the films with dialogue. The rivalry between TWO kids is metaphor for human life and strata in our excising society.

How the rich kid oppressed the poor kid is symbolic representation on first world against the third world countries. It's also comment on how our imperfect society is influencing the kids and making theme rival when they must play and enjoy their freedom.

An excellent masterpiece by Ray, worth watching and stays in heart forever.

In 1964, renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray was asked to create a short film for 'ESSO World Theater', a cultural showcase presented on television and funded by the American oil company Esso. Asked to write and direct the film in English, Ray opted instead to make a film without words. The result is a poignant fable of friendship and rivalry. As he did for many of his movies, Ray composed the music for the film, including the haunting tune played on a flute. After Satyajit Ray was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1992, the Academy embarked on an ambitious endeavour to preserve the works of the Bengali filmmaker. "Two," also known as "Parable of Two," is part of the Academy's Satyajit Ray Collection, which includes 18 feature films directed by Ray and preserved by the Archive.

It is ironic that film without words can make one speechless. One can say so much by not speaking at all. It is partly the storyline and also the ingenuity of the director that helps to bring out the unspoken message which is left to everyone's imagination to decipher.

It is ironic that Ray made this short film for a multinational company which is involved in the global promotion of consumerism, materialism and decadence of the environment. I look at it as a slap on the face. From the get-go, one can see a well-fed home-alone well dressed young boy complete with a hat with big ear-like contraptions which will only remind one of Mickey Mouse. And he is seen gulping a beverage from a bottle which has the shape of Coca Cola - what else can it be? He is obviously feeling bored despite all the expensive toys that are lying around him.

Out down from his window, he sees a poor peasant boy having a whale of a time playing a melodious tune on his flute. Jealous that the poor boy can have such a good time, he sabotages his every plaything; banging his drums, shooting with his toy gun and even shooting down his kite.

Despite all the destructive attempts at spoiling the poor boy's play, the latter returns with more ideas to entertain himself. The rich boy remains unhappy despite his access to luxury and the toys at his disposal.

The people in power are hellbent on crushing the hopes and attempts of the less fortunate to progress. The well-heeled feel that only they deserve to be happy. After all, money can buy happiness, they think. The poor, they believe, merit what they have for all their Dionysian outlook of life.

The clip may be voiceless, but the message is loud and clear. Happiness is also a metaphor for the human spirit. The poor are representative of the human race collectively. Despite the repeated insults hurled upon them by the powers that be, the rich multinationals which rapaciously destroy the planet or even Mother Nature who regularly test them with calamities, the human race will never give up. Hitting brick walls has become second nature to them. Overcome they shall.

The rich kid tries to impose his superiority (his idea of happiness) over the poor kid by showing off his materialistic possessions to feel good about himself. Thus he picks up a "fight". He tries to break him as hard as he can. However, the poor kid doesn't lose his spirit and decides to keep himself happy with everything "little" he has. In the end, the rich kid accepts his defeat with a realization that he's not content. Also him withdrawing himself from his toys and the tower falling is shown as metaphor of his defeat. "Two" explains the duality of happiness. One that comes from possessions and the other that comes from within.

I remember reading Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper, in which rich and poor swipe their places. Contrary Satyajit Ray has depicted reality, which provides to acknowledge that in comparison of rich and poor, rich always win by force, especially when the rich isnt capable of doing what poor can: that gun shot speaks it.

This film validates my belief in the importance of scarcity.

You need to live in scarcity at least for some phase in your life. It inculcates the value of building instead of breaking things. This also made me recall a quote from The Fellowship of the Ring.

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom" - Gandalf

Satyajit Ray's Two metaphorically represents many situations of difference in stature and violent egoist mentality. It can be a rich country gunning down a poor country, it can be a toxic colleague at your workplace trying to pull you down, or just a friend who is not able to digest you're better than him at something.

But the message is loud and clear, your relentless love and melody will eventually break the hollow ego of malevolent men like a house of cards.

And after that, they're left with nothing but regret.

The storyline by 'Nick Riganas' here just hits the spot,So I would recommend everyone to read that one first.

This exactly is happening too in the Russian war with Ukraine, with russia being the absolutely spoiled brat just unable to see the street urchin having his simple unbridled fun!. Sixty-plus years have passed, but the events portrayed are even true today and will be true another 600 years after now too. The envious/destructive human nature inherent in us all portrayed by the Master himself.

And Long before Pixar started to made their shorties, here we have the Master already making them way back in 1965...wow.

Maybe, a fable. Or only honest portrait of near reality. A film by a great director , in which each detail is significant, in which each gesture becomes fundamental. Its pure simplicity is magnificent. Its message - powerful in profound sense. Two boys. One, from a rich family, spoiled and arrogant. the other, from a poor family, image of innocence. A sort of war. Toys, arrows, a gun against a kite, a sort of symphony of toys compromised by the sound of a poor whistle. Poetic and simple. As portrait of the fundamental treats of near reality.