Water
Directed by Deepa Mehta
Starring Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham and Sarala
Dendy Films
Screening from April 13
REVIEW BY MARGARET ALLUM
"There are three options from which widows may choose, according to our texts. They may burn with their husbands [on the funeral pyre — known as sati, which is still practiced in some parts of India today], live lives of abstinence and piety; or, if the family agrees, marry their husband's younger brother." This is how a Hindu priest presents a widow with her remaining options in Water, the latest film from the Canada-based film-maker Deepa Mehta.
No stranger to making films with controversial subject matter — Fire examined the forbidden love between two women, and Earth portrayed the events of 1947 when India was partitioned by the British into India and Pakistan — Mehta takes us now into a hidden phenomenon within India, that of the lives of widows, condemned to exist apart from a society which no longer has a place for them.
Water is set in India of the 1930s, when it was still under British colonial control and Mahatma Gandhi was gathering a following for Indian independence.
Eight-year-old Chuyia (Sarala) doesn't remember getting married. She was, and still is, just a child. The man who married her has become ill and upon his death her life changes forever. As decreed by Hindu fundamentalist law, she must be taken out of society to a place suitable for those left behind by the death of their husbands, a house for widows.
She is taken to a barren place near the banks of a holy river, a house where 14 widows live in a world of deprivation and shame. They are shunned by society, expected to atone for the past sins that resulted in the deaths of their husbands. With barely enough to eat, they beg for food and money by the banks of the river. Theirs is a brutal world where Madhumati, the head widow of the house, rules with a cruel hand.
We are shown into the lives of several of the women, whose crushed spirits are partially brightened by the arrival of the energetic young Chuyia. Sarala's performance as the child widow is amazing, and even more so given that she spoke no Hindi or English and learned all her lines phonetically.
Kalyani (Lisa Ray) is extremely beautiful and the only widow allowed to wear her hair long. The reason for this becomes apparent, as she is regularly forced into prostitution to aid the house's income. Possible salvation and escape comes in the form of Narayan (John Abraham), a handsome law graduate and a follower of Gandhi, who falls in love with Kalyani and wants to marry her, which is forbidden under fundamentalist law.
Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is a devout Hindu seeking redemption through the scriptures, but questions whether her religion really condones the sacrificing of women in this way.
Controversy over the film stems from the portrayal of the wretched existence of widows and the assertion by Mehta that this continues in India even today. The same right-wing fundamentalist Hindu backlash that led to the burning down of cinemas that screened Fire claiming that lesbianism was not a part of Indian society, is responsible for the latest attacks on Mehta's work and renewed threats to her life.
Problems caused by this religious fury delayed the shooting of Water for five years, eventually leading Mehta to choose Sri Lanka as an alternative location for filming. Violent opposition has come from various right-wing and Hindu fundamentalist organisations including Shiv Sena, and others aligned with the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP).
It is a true credit to Mehta that she has continued to make powerful films under such circumstances and under great threat to her own safety. Of Mehta's trilogy, I think that Earth will still stay with me as the most memorable, but Water is a very compelling and extremely moving film.
As with Earth, Water uses a personal story to highlight the bigger social and political picture, making it both moving and real, despite the occasional Hollywood/Bollywood style moment. Deepa skillfully blends elements of religion, class, caste and the relations between women and men, and delivers an experience that left me wanting to find out more.
From Green Left Weekly, April 12, 2006.
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