The World of Apu - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

At Rotten Tomatoes, The World of Apu has a 100% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 16 reviews. In 1992, Sight & Sound (the British Film Institute's film magazine) ranked The Apu Trilogy at #88 in its Critics' Poll list of all-time greatest films. In 2002, a combined list of Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll results ranked The World of Apu at #93 in the list. In 1998, the Asian film magazine Cinemaya's critics' poll of all-time greatest films ranked The Apu Trilogy at #7 on the list. In 1999, The Village Voice ranked The Apu Trilogy at #54 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list, based on a poll of critics. The film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 32nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

In 1996, The World of Apu was included in Movieline Magazine's "100 Greatest Foreign Films". In 2001, film critic Roger Ebert included The Apu Trilogy in his list of "100 Great Movies" of all time. In 2002, The World of Apu featured in "The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". In 2005, The Apu Trilogy was included in Time magazine's All-Time 100 best movies list.

The World of Apu has been influential across the world. In Gregory Nava's 1995 film My Family, the final scene is duplicated from the final scene of Apur Sansar. The film's influence can also be seen in famous works such as Martin Scorsese's 1976 New Hollywood film Taxi Driver, several Philip Kaufman films, and Key's 2004 Japanese visual novel Clannad. References to The World of Apu are also found in several films by European filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, and in Paul Auster's 2008 novel Man in the Dark where two characters have a discussion about the film.