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WATER Send This Review to a Friend
Effectively written and exquisitely directed by Deepa Mehta, “Water” deals with the unconscionable plight of widows in India and is an emotionally shattering experience. Set during the time Gandhi’s movement was on the rise, the film reveals the grim choices then for widows—throwing themselves on funeral pyres with their husbands or being shunned for the rest of their lives. Some progress has been made, but I am informed that the situation is still dire and that there are many widows who live in the kind of ashrams shown in “Water.”
The film, among the best to be commercially released thus far this year (I first saw it at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival), contains an amazing and heartbreaking performance by Sarala as Chuyia, an eight-year-old child bride who, suddenly a widow, is sent to an ashram, where she has her head shaved and is exploited by the ruthless, embittered widow in charge, whose view is that the role of young widows is that of prostitution, which in turn earns money for her and the ashram. Sarala will reach your heart and affect you forever.
There is also a sad, beautiful delineated love story involving an attractive young widow, played by Lisa Ray, and the idealistic man, portrayed by John Abraham, who is faced with risking scorn or abandoning her. Mehta has packed her film with atmosphere and anger at the hopelessness instilled by the cruel, discriminatory customs.
There is also an act of nobility by one of the ashram widows who desperately tries to find a future for the child widow, and it is all set the framework of Gandhi, newly released form prison, arriving at a railway station where his followers have gathered to express support in a moment of hope for India in its effort to free itself from British rule as well as change life in India for the better.
“Water”is the third in Mehta’s trilogy, following “Fire” and “Earth.” It became so controversial in India, that the film had to be shut down, but eventually it was made in Sri Lanka. The story of the filming of “Water,” and its struggle to get made, is effectively and compellingly told in a new book by Devyani Saltzman, the director’s daughter—“Shooting Water,” subtitled “A Memoir of Second Chances, Family and Filmmaking.” It has been published by Newmarket Press ($23.95).
The film ran into trouble because of agitation by Hindu fundamentalists, most of whom had not even seen the script. But anything rumored to criticize life in India, as can be the case in other countries protective of their reputations, can raise fears and create hysteria. “Water” is one of those great films that speak for humanity and freedom, point to gross injustices and display levels of artistry that make them live as examples of creativity. It is also a passionate cry against the abuse of women. Although set in the 1930s, it speaks to the world in the year 2006. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.
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