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Set in 1938 in the twilight of colonial India, Water focuses on a
group of women condemned by Hindu law to spend the rest of their lives in an
institution, or ashram, on the banks of the Ganges because they are widows.
While the devout Shakuntula (Seema Biswas) spends her days assisting a local
holy man, the limpid-eyed Kalyani (Lisa Ray) is forced into prostitution by the
ashram's domineering housemother. The arrival of Chuyia (Sarala), a bewildered
8-year-old whose husband has just died, encourages Shakuntula to question her
faith and Kalyani to begin a love affair with a Gandhian idealist. Written and
directed by Deepa Mehta, Water is an exquisite film about the
institutionalized oppression of an entire class of women and the way
patriarchal imperatives inform religious belief. Serene on the surface yet
roiling underneath, the film neatly parallels the plight of widows under Hindu
fundamentalism to that of India under British colonialism. Though Gandhi and
his followers are an insistent background presence, the movie is never
didactic, trusting the simple rhythms of the women's lives to tell their story.
— Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
A Deepa Mehta film. 117 minutes. 2006. Fox Searchlight Pictures.
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