Movie Review: Water

I always love ethnic movies and jumped at the chance to watch "Water," an Indian movie set in the time of Ghandi. 

The first aspect of the movie that immediately caught my attention is the brilliant cinematography. The use of visual themes and colors is ingenious, causing the strong literary themes in the story to be all the more poignant. It is well-worth watching for artistic enjoyment alone. 

From what I have been told, the story was written by an Indian feminist writer who is exiled in Canada. The movie is intended to speak against the oppression of women in the Indian culture, pre-Ghandi especially. The story begins with the background knowledge that the Holy Books require a widow to be chaste and pure. If not, she will be reborn in the womb of a jackal. Thus, the theme of purity begins from the opening lines. Chuyia, a little girl who is widowed at the age of 7,  did not even remember getting married and had never met her husband. Her head was shaved, she was clothed in white cloth, and sent to a house for widows where they live as outcasts for the rest of their lives. The viewer watches her adapt to her new environment and develop relationships with the other women, many of whom have been there since they were little girls as well. 

While the widows beg for money to support themselves, the house is also somewhat of a brothel. One woman in particular is forced into prostitution though she feels despicably dirty and is constantly washing herself with holy water,  highlighting the theme of purity. Every day and the others wash themselves with water in the desperate attempt to purify themselves. When one woman dies, the fear in the hearts of the women is evident as they perform ritual upon ritual with grieving and hopeless hearts. 

As the movie progresses and this theme is woven throughout in many creative, artistic ways, there comes and event in which the violation was so deep that the women knew the holy water was not enough. Word came that Ghandi had been released from jail and was passing through and they knew he was the only one who could heal and save. 

Though the writer believed women's liberation and the message of Ghandi was the answer, I watched the movie with a heart burdened for these women who knew they were dirty and their holy water, no matter how faithfully they bathed themselves in it, was not able to purify them. I was touched to see how they knew they needed a Savior to cleanse them, though my heart hurt to see that Ghandi was their only answer. They did not know the living water that heals, restores, and makes them white as snow.