Water (2005)
Country: CAN/IND
Technical: col/2.35:1 117m
Director: Deepa Mehta
Cast: Sarala Kariyawasam, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas
Synopsis:
India, 1938: a riverside home for widows, denied the chance of a new life by Hindu scripture, shelters among others a Brahmin on the threshold of middle age who is stricken with religious doubts, a beautiful young woman, widowed since childhood, who is prostituted by the senior to pay for their upkeep, and an eight year-old girl who has just arrived. In the background, Gandhi is being released by the British and preaching a new wisdom based on truth, and a young man arrives fresh from college, full of the new ideals. His eyes fall on the beautiful Kalyani.
Review:
A beautifully made film, almost too beautiful perhaps, which is partly a polemic centred around the continuing wretched lot of millions of Indian widows in the 21st century, and partly a poignantly understated love story with a historical backdrop. The frequent references to water fit eloquently into the director's loose and incomplete tetralogy based around the four elements, and few films have so vividly evoked the colours, sounds and tempo - though not the smells - of life in India.
Country: CAN/IND
Technical: col/2.35:1 117m
Director: Deepa Mehta
Cast: Sarala Kariyawasam, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas
Synopsis:
India, 1938: a riverside home for widows, denied the chance of a new life by Hindu scripture, shelters among others a Brahmin on the threshold of middle age who is stricken with religious doubts, a beautiful young woman, widowed since childhood, who is prostituted by the senior to pay for their upkeep, and an eight year-old girl who has just arrived. In the background, Gandhi is being released by the British and preaching a new wisdom based on truth, and a young man arrives fresh from college, full of the new ideals. His eyes fall on the beautiful Kalyani.
Review:
A beautifully made film, almost too beautiful perhaps, which is partly a polemic centred around the continuing wretched lot of millions of Indian widows in the 21st century, and partly a poignantly understated love story with a historical backdrop. The frequent references to water fit eloquently into the director's loose and incomplete tetralogy based around the four elements, and few films have so vividly evoked the colours, sounds and tempo - though not the smells - of life in India.
Country: CAN/IND
Technical: col/2.35:1 117m
Director: Deepa Mehta
Cast: Sarala Kariyawasam, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas
Synopsis:
India, 1938: a riverside home for widows, denied the chance of a new life by Hindu scripture, shelters among others a Brahmin on the threshold of middle age who is stricken with religious doubts, a beautiful young woman, widowed since childhood, who is prostituted by the senior to pay for their upkeep, and an eight year-old girl who has just arrived. In the background, Gandhi is being released by the British and preaching a new wisdom based on truth, and a young man arrives fresh from college, full of the new ideals. His eyes fall on the beautiful Kalyani.
Review:
A beautifully made film, almost too beautiful perhaps, which is partly a polemic centred around the continuing wretched lot of millions of Indian widows in the 21st century, and partly a poignantly understated love story with a historical backdrop. The frequent references to water fit eloquently into the director's loose and incomplete tetralogy based around the four elements, and few films have so vividly evoked the colours, sounds and tempo - though not the smells - of life in India.