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Sent to an ashram (commune) for widows as per Hindu tradition after her husband passes away, a child bride resists and rebels in this Canada/India co-production set during the 1930s. There are some excellent tracking shots as she scurries back and forth through the commune where she finds herself at odds to the other much older widows living there and the atmospheric music by Mychael Danna and A.R. Rahman is great. A pivotal plot turn occurs as the child bride finds a twenty-something lady living in isolation in the commune. The child soon takes it upon herself to help the young woman find romance again (forbidden as it is by their religion); after all, if she can get the young lady to find love again, maybe everything is not hopeless for her. Fascinating a slice of life as 'Water' might spin, the film spends a little too long on the young lady's love affair for its own good. The power of the movie comes from everything being told from the child's perspective with all the hopes and dreams that a youngster still has, as well as all the questioning of traditions and customs that she does not understand. A brief appearance by Gandhi also feels a tad distracting. When the film focuses on the child bride, it is thoroughly encapsulating to view. Sarala Kariyawasam is simply excellent as the young girl in question with a constantly unbroken spirit that is inspiring to view.
Takethispunch
The film is set in the year 1938, when India was still under British occupation. Child marriages were common practice and widows had a diminished position in society.Chuyia (Sarala Kariyawasam) is an eight-year-old girl, whose husband suddenly dies. In keeping with traditions of widowhood, she is dressed in a white sari, her head is shaven and she is left in an ashram, to spend the rest of her life in renunciation. There are fourteen women who live in the dilapidated house, sent there to expiate bad karma, as well as to relieve their families of financial and emotional burdens of caring for widows. The ashram is ruled by Madhumati (Manorama), a pompous lady in her 70s. Her only friend is the pimp, Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), a hijra who keeps Madhumati supplied with cannabis. The two also have a side business: Gulabi helps Madhumati prostitute Kalyani (Lisa Ray), a beautiful young widow, by taking her across the lake to customers. Kalyani was forced into prostitution as a teenager to support the ashram.
Britannic Zane
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.
Armand
map of a world. delicate touch. and little waves of cry. a film about rules of tradition. about innocence, sufferance, evil as soul mist, sacrifice, love and hope. it is not a movie about India. it is only story about yourself. because the facts are not part of an only cultural space. because intolerance is food and protection for many people . because the basic elements of cruelty and lost of compassion are not accidents. or isolated pieces. because all is simple. and delicate. a girl. a strange world of a kind of ashram. a young man. his girl friend. a train. and one passenger, for late moment, the girl. nothing more. as letters of a testimony without end.
AD
