City of Joy (1992)

An American doctor, a British nurse and an illiterate Indian farmer join together to transform a Calcutta ghetto in this uplifting, inspirational movie starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins.

Director:

Roland Joffé

Writers:

Dominique Lapierre (book), Mark Medoff (screenplay)

Stars:

Patrick Swayze, Pauline Collins, Om Puri

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Patrick Swayze	...	Max Lowe
Om Puri	...	Hazari Pal
Pauline Collins	...	Joan Bethel
Shabana Azmi	...	Kamla H. Pal
Ayesha Dharker	...	Amrita H. Pal
Santu Chowdhury	...	Shambu H. Pal
Imran Badsah Khan	...	Manooj H. Pal
Art Malik	...	Ashok Ghatak
Nabil Shaban	...	Anouar
Debatosh Ghosh	...	Ram Chander
Suneeta Sengupta	...	Poomina
Mansi Upadhyay	...	Meeta
Shyamanand Jalan	...	Ghatak - Godfather
Shyamal Sengupta	...	Gangooly - Con man
Rudraprasad Sengupta	...	Chomotkar

Storyline

Independent of each other, the Pal family - parents Hazari and Kamla, and their three offspring Amrita, Shambu and Manooj - and Max Lowe arrive in Calcutta, their initial dealings there being less than positive. After losing their farm in the nearby countryside to the "money lender", the Pals are in the city in search of a better life, especially in wanting to build a dowry for Amrita who is now of marrying age. Max, a Houston based surgeon who fell into the career as a matter of family obligation, quit his job unable to cope with the emotional toll especially of losing patients, and has come to Calcutta in search of spiritual enlightenment. Their lives converge by chance in the slum neighborhood nicknamed the City of Joy, most specifically at the makeshift City of Joy Clinic and School opened and operated by Irishwoman Joy Bethel who came to Calcutta on a whim and never left. While the Pals eventual settle in the City of Joy, Joy herself tries to convince Max to provide his much ...

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Plot Keywords:

calcutta india | american abroad | optimism | friendship | white savior | 

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Taglines:

He was a man who couldn't care less... until he met a man who couldn't care more.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for scenes of brief strong violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

At 1:51 the poster at the wall is "Theodore Gericault Raft of the Medusa".

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Goofs

The school girl in the rickshaw gets dropped daily to St. Xavier's School on Park Street - which is an all boys school.

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Quotes

Hasari Pal: If the journey is not what you expected, do not be surprised.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: City of Joy/Proof/The Babe/Deep Cover/The Famine Within (1992)

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Soundtracks

Original folk score
Richard Blackford

User Reviews

One of the best movies ever made

Bizarre reviews of this film that fail to explain why they are against its excellence don't stand up in the face of critics like Jim Whalley of Cinema Showcase who called it "the best picture of the year" and Susan Granger of WICC who commented that Patrick Swayze gave "the performance of a lifetime". This is the true story of a disillusioned American doctor who, like so many people, (the Beatles and Alanis Morisette, for example) travelled to India to find himself in a search for enlightenment. At first, he is unwilling to help the locals stand up against the oppressive 'godfather' of the area because he feels that all he'd be doing is trying to "drill a hole in water".

Having been to an English-speaking Third World country like India, myself, I found the reactions of the Swayze character extremely true to life. This seems to be the point that many viewers of the film don't seem to understand. I witnessed many Anglo-Americans in a Third World country surprising themselves by blowing up in anger at seeing the locals cowering away from injustice and later being transformed by the love and patience of the poor. I watched this movie while I was in Guyana and it was like an echo of many of the things I was going through and many of the events with which I had faced. Even the characters and their characteristics and reactions in the film matched many of the people I knew in that land!

"City of Joy" was an excellent and faithful adaption of Dominique Lapierre's richly written masterpiece. Om Puri's performance was deserving of an Academy Award. Patrick Swayze's character - his reactions to his surroundings - was extremely realistic. The conclusion of the film was beautifully touching. The strengths of American culture and Indian culture joined together - both races learned to accept one another's ways of life and borrowed virtues from one another's culture to breathe new life into the slums of Calcutta. "City of Joy" is one of the best movies ever made (10 out of 10).

Details

Country:

France UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

City of Joy

Filming Locations:

Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,405,890, 19 April 1992

Gross USA:

$14,683,921

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,683,921

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Filmmakers, Lightmotive, Pricel

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1