Water, with Deepa Mehta (Filmfest DC) April 22, 2006

DEEPA MEHTA

Canada, 2005, 117 minutes, Color

In Person: Director Deepa Mehta

Water is a profoundly moving drama about an eight-year-old Hindu widow, Chuyia, sent to live in an Indian ashram with other widows who, in strict adherence with Hindu texts, are condemned to the same outcast fate regardless of their age. It's 1938 India, and the progressive ideas of Mahatma Gandhi are working their way across the country. But behind the walls of the ashram, young Chuyia forges allegiances with foul-tempered Madhumati, beautiful Kalyani, and her eventual savior, deceptively quiet Shakuntala. The final film in Deepa Mehta's thematically linked "Elemental Trilogy" (1996's Fire, 1998's Earth), this deeply satisfying film shows no sign of being the second pass at production following a 2000 shutdown in the wake of on-set riots sparked by Hindu fundamentalists. The strife, which prompted recasting and reshooting under a fake production title, has toughened the director's focus and resulted in the best film of her career to date.
-Eddie Cockrell

In Hindi with English subtitles

Official Website: http://www.cdad.com/tuan/filmfest/filmView.cfm?passID=57