Water (2005)
Starring:  Sarala, Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Manorma, Dr. Vidula Javalgekar, Vinay Pathak, Mohan Jhangiani, and Raghuvir Yadav
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Deepa Mehta
PRODUCER:  David Hamilton
GENRES:  Drama, Historical
RATING:  MPAA - PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual situations and for brief drug use
DISTRIBUTOR:  Fox Searchlight

Set in India, 1938, Deepa Mehta's film, Water, is the story of a recently widowed child bride forced from her home to live in poverty with other widows.  The film earned a 2007 "Best Foreign Language Film of the Year" nomination as a representative of Canada.

When her husband dies of an illness, 8-year old Chuyia (Sarala) is forced to live out the rest of her live in a temple for Hindu widows.  Chuyia struggles to adjust to her new life, especially chafing under the rule of the temple's cruel headmistress, Madhumita (Manorma), who wants the child to accept and adjust to her new life.  Chuyia finds guidance under the care of Shakutala Didi (Seema Biswas), and shares the trials of her new life with Kalyani (Lisa Ray), a beautiful prostitute who was also a child widow.  Kalyani finds hope when Narayan (John Abraham) a law student and Gandhi nationalist, begins to court her, and it is through that courtship that Chuyia learns the true restrictions and cruelty of widowhood.

Water is the third film in Deepa Mehta's elemental trilogy (the others films are Fire and Earth), and it took her five years to complete the film.  Shortly after filming began in India in 2000, protests by Hindu fundamentalists shut the production down.  Set in the 1930's when child brides were still prevalent, the film portrays how young widows were farmed out to ashrams.  According to sacred Hindu texts, a widow was left with three options when her husband died.  She could throw herself on his funeral pyre and die with him or marry his younger brother, if one were available.  Finally, she could live out her life in seclusion and renunciation.  As of the 19th century, new laws allowed widows to remarry, but often the old ways still held sway.

With that as a launching point, Mehta contrasts what water can symbolize (renewal and cleanliness) with the gritty reality of the lives of the women in the widow house.  Society won't allow them to be renewed and considers the widows not only too foul to touch, but also to be so afflicted that even their shadows are bad luck to a new bride.  Mehta brings the audience into that world through the new eyes of the Chuyia.  Played by the raw, untrained talent of the young performer, Sarala, Chuyia shares her shock, anger, and urge to leave with the viewer.

Lisa Ray and John Abrahma are the star-crossed lovers of this film.

While Mehta uses Chuyia to introduce us into this strange world, she uses Kalyani to show us the established side of this life and how this doomed life kills hope in the widows.  In her performance as Kalyani, Lisa Ray is like fresh water, and she shines like light reflected off water.  Her story reflects hope, but also reflects the things that are determined to kill hope in widows.

Mehta also works with an excellent creative crew that invents a world of exotic costumes, striking colors (especially those applied to the face and body), and sets that exude authenticity.  Cinematographer Giles Nuttgens captures all sides of the world of Water, from the destitute living conditions of the widows to the enchanted waterways and from the stately homes of the well to do to the ceremonial coves where water plays a part in religion.

Mehta has created a world of stunning visuals and a haunting story that dramatizes how people hold onto the old ways and how they seek to inhibit those who move away from tradition.  In Water, she also portrays another fact of life - sometimes people like knowing that there are always others under them on the social ladder.

A+

2007 Academy Awards:  1 nomination for "Best Foreign Language Film of the Year" (Canada)

Find more movie reviews at http://www.negromancer.com.