Widows Young & Old: Pariahs in Prayer

This Week’s Streaming Pick From Norma

A forbidden love story set in the not-so-distant past which shames and divides India even today.

SnapShot Plot

In the magnificent film, Water, it’s 1938 in British controlled India, where there still exists a practice of Child Marriage among many segments of the Hindu population. The film opens with a rural family gathering up their small daughter for a journey to an ashram in the Varanasi region, from which she will never return and where she will live out the rest of her life as a pariah in society. Why? Because the old man to whom she was technically married (who she’s never even met) has died, leaving her a widow and an outcast. Thus begins a harrowing, beautiful, and mesmerizing film that leaves an indelible mark on the imagination.

When little Chuyia arrives at the ashram, it’s not clear if she realizes she will never see her family again, yet even while she is bewildered by the strange women residing there like walking ghosts, she’s still a rebellious and mischevious child at heart, hence becoming a handful to the internal power hierarchy. She’s taken under the wings of two ‘widows’, one a middle-aged woman called Shakuntala who realizes the world around them is transforming, and the other a stunningly beautiful young woman named Kalyani (in a translucent performance by Lisa Ray) to whom the girl becomes like a little sister. When a chance meeting occurs between a handsome young doctor (who represents the future of India) and Kalyani (a prisoner of the past world order who’s burdened with an additional shameful secret) the love story that transpires between them threatens the status quo and endangers the future they wish for themselves.

“To talk about the truth is easy but to live by it is not.”

Parting Shot

Director, Deepa Mehta is an Indian filmmaker working in Canada whose movies have been widely acclaimed and yet in India have proved so polarizing that actual riots have broken out and in at least one instance, her image was burned in effigy. Water is the last installment in a trilogy which began with the film, Fire (1996), followed by Earth (1998). She was so under attack for her resolve in completing the trilogy that when actual film sets were burned down and an activist tried to stage a suicide protest, the decision was finally made to shoot Water in Sri Lanka in 2005. The movie is a dark reminder of India’s past mistreatment of widows, incriminating in its depictions of misogyny and communal ostracism. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was also the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards.

The 8 year old unknown child actor who played Chuyia, Sarala Kariyawasam, had never acted professionally before and was outstanding in her lead role in the picture. Not only did she have to carry the entire film, but also didn’t speak a lick of Hindi and had to memorize all her lines phonetically. It’s her capture of a spirit that cannot be broken which symbolizes the central struggle of a country in the throes of revolution, as embodied by the figure of Gandhi in the background of the story.

What makes this film close to a masterpiece is the blend of elements — including stunning photography and a soundtrack that is hypnotic and emotionally stirring — which together create an unforgettable experience. Another impressive achievement lies in the director’s ability to blend the harsh reality of the ashram with the delirious beauty that is India, into an overall portrait that challenges the senses and the mind.

India in 1938 might as well have been another planet for the differences between the country then and now. In Water, Deepa Mehta has captured an entire country and culture on the brink of reform while still managing to paint an exquisitely personal and hypnotically beautiful portrait of a time and place that seduces as much as it repels.

Norma’s Streaming Picks is a Baby Boomer’s Guide to the Best Streaming Movies/TV on the Planet. Check out my site for a TON more titles and reviews!

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