Arguments need to be constructed of more than emotion, bitterness and the sense of persecution. It also requires research, testing and challenging ourselves to understand the circumstances. We also have to be brave enough to be wrong once-in-awhile.

Water (2006)

Consensus: This compassionate work of social criticism is also luminous, due to both its lyrical imagery and cast. more

Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins
Theatrical Release: Apr 28, 2006 Limited

Synopsis:
When Deepa Mehta first began filming WATER in 2000, angry fundamentalist mobs burned her sets and threatened her life. The Indian government claimed it could not protect her, and the project had to wait four years before finally filming in Sri Lanka. Her film has raised the ire of extremists because it challenges the Hindu customs that dictate that widows, considered half-dead after the loss of their husbands, must be closeted in holy ashrams–a practice that still exists today. Set in the 1930s, the film tells the story of eight-year old Chuyia, whose husband dies before she even meets him. Her parents shave her head and whisk her away to a house of widows where the women sleep on the ground and beg in the streets to earn their puny portion of rice. Chuyia, feisty and resilient, comes into this world like a ray of light, and soon the women are rethinking their mute acceptance of their fate. Her closest friend and ally is the lovely Kalyani, and soon a forbidden romance begins to develop between Kalyani and Narayana, a young Brahmin man who, following the teachings of Gandhi, has denounced injustice. The film is sumptuously beautiful, Chuyia is utterly winsome, and despite the harsh social issues at its heart, it often feels light and lively: Chuyia and Kalyani play games and dance, Chuyia steals sweets for a dying old widow, the women dance and paint each other’s faces during a color festival, and the Cinderella-story romance between Kalyani and Narayana shimmers with the promise of salvation and happiness. Mehta, however, knows it would be disingenuous to allow such an easy resolution to such a dire situation, and the final chapter of WATER takes a tragic turn. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, Kalbushan Kharbadna, Waheeda Rehman, Rishma Malik
Director: Deepa Mehta
Screenwriter: Deepa Mehta
Producer: Mark Burton
Composer: Mychael Danna

Where is the line between hegemony and human rights activism?
When is Sovereignty secondary to the indignity of humanity?

At the very least, it should help us examine how we treat each other in our own country. I’m sad to say, that many of us aren’t doing our part and in fact may look not much different than more primitive fundamental societies.

Considering the Polygamist Compound that was recently raided in San Angelo Texas with facts not unlike the accompanying story – half a world and half a millennium away – we have lot to do.