Release Date: Nov. 11
Playing at: AMC and Cinéma du Parc
Synopsis: In 1938 colonial India, an 8-year old girl who has recently lost her husband is sent to an ashram where Hindu widows must renounce their former lives and adhere to an ascetic existence. However, the ashram itself is not without its moral compromises...
Sociological themes: Gender, culture, religion, class, social change.

Chosen as the opening night gala premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, beating out numerous other entries including Canadian heavyweights Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies and David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, the critically-acclaimed Water is the 3rd instalment of Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta’s elemental trilogy which also includes Fire (1996) and Earth (1998). All three films deal primarily with Hindu women struggling express to their true selves within the gender-restrictive confines of Indian tradition. Each element plays an important role (both literally and metaphorically), and in her latest production, water is symbolic of both freedom and imprisonment.

We observe the interaction between the young Chuyia (Sarala), her two new friends, Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) and the beautiful Kalyani (Toronto-born Lisa Ray) as they attempt to maintain their identities within the isolated, oppressive and depressing environment of the ashram, where many of the widows have developed a prison-like mentality. An attraction blooms between Kalyani and Narayana (Indian supermodel John Abraham), a handsome law student from a lower caste who has been influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi, a pairing which is not at all well-regarded in the eyes of civilized society.

Mehta’s feminist perspective has frequently gotten her into trouble with Hindu fundamentalists in India. Unlike the myriad of films churned by Bollywood that almost never explore in depth the possible negative effects that culture can have on the well-being and happiness of more free-thinking individuals, her motion pictures are rather confrontational in comparison. This has made conservative groups very angry.

When Fire was released, protestors attacked moviegoers and trashed the theatres. Mehta herself received death threats and had to be accompanied by security guards for the remainder of her stay. Fire was eventually banned in India for “religious insensitivity”, while Pakistani censors objected to the lesbian relationship between the two female leads.

Earth did not fare much better, as both nations balked at Mehta’s blunt treatment of the violence that erupted between Hindus and Muslims in 1947 when the British Empire ended its colonial rule. Earth was promptly barred for political reasons.

Never one to give up, Mehta tried to film Water in the holy city Varanasi in 2000, but she recalled, “...film sets being thrown in the river, my effigy being burned and protesters marching in the streets...” (BBC News, Sep. 9th, 2005) Despite the support she received from director George Lucas, Indian authorities shut the entire production down. She only managed to continue her project when Sri Lanka opened its doors to her in 2004.

Water is a treat for the eyes (watch the trailer if you don’t believe me!) and the ears (the beautiful music is by the famous and renowned Indian composer A.R. Rahman). Film critic Katherine Monk from the Canwest News Service summed up the movie perfectly: “visual poetry flowing through heavy issues.” I encourage you all to watch the latest work of this courageous and talented filmmaker. (Earth is highly recommended also; it stars Aamir Khan, whom you may recognize from 2001’s Oscar-nominated Lagaan.)