Finally, in 2007 Water showed up on screens across India. The IMDb description of the film dates it to 2005. The film could not have justified the wait more. Water is a triumph a all the way - a befitting culmination of Deepa Mehta's trilogy on the forces-of-nature metaphors.
Water, on the surface, is a story of inhuman treatment of widows in early twentieth century India. It starts with the induction of a little girl, Chuhiya, into the widows' ashram and ends with what is perhaps her escape out of a life of misery and social oppression. The truth is, Water goes much beyond its story. Just like the metaphor, it flows, cutting its banks and extending its boundaries to symbolise the challenges that make it almost impossible to rise against hard-set traditions and ideologies of society. It reaffirms that at the end to break such shackles, it requires individual courage and only individual instances, however small, finally coalesce to catalyse a social change.
In her last two films of the trilogy Deepa Mehta treated the subjects of love under duress because of social taboos (Fire, 1996) and loss of humanity under crisis like India's partition (Earth, 1998). I feel Water surpasses both because of a lack of an obvious villain to blame - there is no taboo, there is no Partition. What would perhaps be a seemingly normal social structure of the times is the cause of the widows plight. How do you correct a society that does not see anything wrong with itself? Giving the audience a film where they cannot blame anyone for the wrongs and as a result invoking in them a slight sense of guilt for being humans who still have to learn humanity is probably an achievement for Mehta that goes beyond the craft of film making.
The film is beautifully shot. There is a definite theme running those the visuals - water, whites, bright but pale. Each shot is crafted and is there for a reason. The only time you see color is the Holi sequence with Chuhiya and others smearing color on each other. That sequence only goes on to contrast the tragedies that follow. The background score as well as the songs lend soul to the proceedings - there is pain, longing and hope.
The little Chuhiya is played beautifully by Sarala. Her innocence and energy is ironical and heart-breaking. The mere thought of what the girl has to go through can bring one to tears. Seema Biswas is a gem of an actress. She speaks - through words, eyes, body, her sheer presence - so much that the viewer will still have to comprehend hours after the film ends. Lisa Ray is okay. Unfortunately, she does not add any dimension to her character by her performance but the whole content of the film carries her along. Jonh Abraham is natural. It reaffirms my faith that he is a director's actor. Rest of the cast also does a good job.
The film at the end has Mahatma Gandhi deliver a simple two line message - He thought that God was the only Truth. But now he is convinced that Truth is the only God. Hardly has anything been ever said which is so terse and still capable of filling volumes upon elucidation.
The closing shot is magnificent, just as the film is to Mehta's trilogy. This is her hour of triumph and she has made her contribution to world cinema.
Water, on the surface, is a story of inhuman treatment of widows in early twentieth century India. It starts with the induction of a little girl, Chuhiya, into the widows' ashram and ends with what is perhaps her escape out of a life of misery and social oppression. The truth is, Water goes much beyond its story. Just like the metaphor, it flows, cutting its banks and extending its boundaries to symbolise the challenges that make it almost impossible to rise against hard-set traditions and ideologies of society. It reaffirms that at the end to break such shackles, it requires individual courage and only individual instances, however small, finally coalesce to catalyse a social change.
In her last two films of the trilogy Deepa Mehta treated the subjects of love under duress because of social taboos (Fire, 1996) and loss of humanity under crisis like India's partition (Earth, 1998). I feel Water surpasses both because of a lack of an obvious villain to blame - there is no taboo, there is no Partition. What would perhaps be a seemingly normal social structure of the times is the cause of the widows plight. How do you correct a society that does not see anything wrong with itself? Giving the audience a film where they cannot blame anyone for the wrongs and as a result invoking in them a slight sense of guilt for being humans who still have to learn humanity is probably an achievement for Mehta that goes beyond the craft of film making.
The film is beautifully shot. There is a definite theme running those the visuals - water, whites, bright but pale. Each shot is crafted and is there for a reason. The only time you see color is the Holi sequence with Chuhiya and others smearing color on each other. That sequence only goes on to contrast the tragedies that follow. The background score as well as the songs lend soul to the proceedings - there is pain, longing and hope.
The little Chuhiya is played beautifully by Sarala. Her innocence and energy is ironical and heart-breaking. The mere thought of what the girl has to go through can bring one to tears. Seema Biswas is a gem of an actress. She speaks - through words, eyes, body, her sheer presence - so much that the viewer will still have to comprehend hours after the film ends. Lisa Ray is okay. Unfortunately, she does not add any dimension to her character by her performance but the whole content of the film carries her along. Jonh Abraham is natural. It reaffirms my faith that he is a director's actor. Rest of the cast also does a good job.
The film at the end has Mahatma Gandhi deliver a simple two line message - He thought that God was the only Truth. But now he is convinced that Truth is the only God. Hardly has anything been ever said which is so terse and still capable of filling volumes upon elucidation.
The closing shot is magnificent, just as the film is to Mehta's trilogy. This is her hour of triumph and she has made her contribution to world cinema.