Water (2006) Synopsis:
Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, WATER begins when 8-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia’s feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.
Water (2006) Movie Review:
This film addresses such an unspeakable subject that fundamentalists shut down production in India. It took Mehta four years to remount the project (shooting in Sri Lanka), and the result is a real stunner.
In 1938 India, 7-year-old Chuyia (Sarala) is already a widow, abandoned in an ashram by her parents. She's too young to grasp the fact that this will be her life from now on, as widows are forbidden from engaging with society (people are literally afraid of their shadows), and they certainly can never remarry. The housemother (Manorama) makes ends meet by selling attractive widows to a eunuch pimp (Yadav). Eventually, Chuyia befriends two housemates: fiercely religious Shakuntala (Biswas) and 18-year-old Kalyani (Ray), who has fallen in love with a progressive young man (Abraham).
Mehta's filmmaking style is vivid and energetic, catching the textures, colours and even smells while focussing in on her complex characters. Even though it's set in the 1930s, the film has an unflinching contemporary resonance as Mehta takes on one of Indian society's sacred cows. But it never feels like a statement film; it's an intensely personal drama.
Each character is on a remarkable internal journey toward understanding the world around them--finding both hope and deep despair. The biggest change is reserved for India itself, as Gandhi's actions and philosophies prowl around the edge of the story, finally emerging on-screen in the final sequence. When he talks about the untouchables being children of God, we acutely understand his revolution.
Sarala is superb in the central role as a young girl who's far too clever and sharply opinionated for her own good. When she asks where the male widow house is, she's told, "God forbid that men should suffer so." And she gets it: her society is unjust, and there's nothing she can do about it. But she continues to speak the truth, as only a child would. Her interaction with Ray is lovely, as is Ray's chemistry with Abraham.
Mehta's film captures Indian culture , significantly portraying honest people who aren't remotely repressed about sex or violence (although they keep them out of sight, as does Mehta). She also has a sharp eye for business disguised as religion. And exploiters disguised as saviours.
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Water (2006) review written by: Rich Cline
7th September, 2008 
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