Movie is so emotional that you can't hold your tears. It a love story of a widow woman and man from 1938. It lot of social practice were present in back those days in India which people call it culture. I almost cried at the end and didn't went how I was expecting. Main theme of movie is to show how social evil practice were present like child marriage, widow have to live their life miserable. And in the name of culture they were running sex. I don't want to spoil the movie so I'll keep it short. I don't know why this movie is banned in India even after Independence and when all social evil practice are stopped. I think the mind set of people is still not developed on these issues.

I think that one of the most remarkable parts of the movie Water, directed by Deepa Mehta, is in the beginning, when a little girl named Chuyia is asked by her father if she remembers getting married, and she replies that she does not remember. She is eight years old at the time. Chuyia's husband dies, and she becomes a widow for the rest of her life. She is required to cut off her hair and she goes to live with other widows. The movie is set in 1938. Thinking about this aspect of Hindu life opens my eyes to how different the world was not so long ago. The girl, Chuyia is ripped away from her family, and is forced to live a brand new life, and she didn't choose any of it. She did not choose to be a widow or to live in this facility, and she never even got to choose to get married in the first place. Chuyia begins to make friends in the ashram. One of them is Kalyani. She is a widow just like Chuyia, except she has been forced into prostitution by the head of the ashram for financial reasons. This is why Kalyani is the only one who can keep her hair in the ashram. One day, Chuyia chases Kalyani's dog down the streets when it runs away. She runs into Narayan, who is a follower of Gandhi. Kalyani and Narayan end up falling in love. There is a glimmer of hope for the two, when a law is passed that widows are allowed to marry. The same is true for Chuyia, and she has more hope for a better future. Overall, the movie is a great depiction of how widows in India were treated. It seems so wrong that they are being treated like this, just because they no longer have a husband. In this situation, Mahatma Gandhi saved so many widows, because they were now able to live like the rest of the world's widows and remarry, or simply carry on a regular life.

Deepa Mehta is an amazing film maker who's trilogy (Fire, Earth, and Water) give a glimpse into the struggles women in India faced with their own identity and independence. Water, my favorite of in the trilogy, is a powerful film set in India around the mid 1930's. It tells the story of a ashram of widows and how they are condemned to be outcasts because their husbands died. At this time of arranged and child marriages, it was not uncommon for young child brides to be wed to older men. If the men died and another brother did not marry the widow, she would be sent to live in the Ashram. The widows would be condemned to a strict life of poverty and worship. Surviving from what little money they got from begging. It would be considered unlucky to interact with them if you were pregnant. They were also had to wear all white as a way to set them apart from society. It is almost like they are living ghosts. Although at the time the movie takes place, it was legal in many provinces, it was very taboo. This movie follows a young child bride who fights against the role of being a widow that society places upon her.

Such a wasted opportunity!Such potential!All wasted on a cheap love story. With a ethnic backdrop. A bleached backdrop.You have a prepuber girl at the end of life. Already been married, buried a husband and now awaits death together with other women, both old and young, but not that young. And this drama is dulled with images of child games.In the 21st century you still have group rape, yet the pariah can move around freely. The women are poor, but not that poor. Nobody is starving. The atrocious scenes where they burn the dead bodies are idealized with candle lights and night on the river. The stench and body parts are nowhere to be sensed.It took me almost one hour to notice this is a themed soap opera. Where people are clean and shampoo daily. Where everything is deodorized and gods are left untouched. It's not about religion turning people into beasts, it's about helping a poor soul in a sea of sorrow. Disgusting!It could have been a clean love story. Life in a Metro type. At the end I was grateful for not having the happy singing and dancing that goes in almost every Indian movie. But having every scene with at least two large swastikas made even that ray of light vanish. I lied. After less than a hour and a half they start singing, dancing and smiling.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch