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Water

Water (2005)

September. 08,2005
|
7.7
|
PG
| Drama Romance

The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.

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BoardChiri
2005/09/08

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

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ActuallyGlimmer
2005/09/09

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

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Kirandeep Yoder
2005/09/10

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

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Billy Ollie
2005/09/11

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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sol-
2005/09/12

Sent to an ashram (commune) for widows as per Hindu tradition after her husband passes away, a child bride resists and rebels in this Canada/India co-production set during the 1930s. There are some excellent tracking shots as she scurries back and forth through the commune where she finds herself at odds to the other much older widows living there and the atmospheric music by Mychael Danna and A.R. Rahman is great. A pivotal plot turn occurs as the child bride finds a twenty-something lady living in isolation in the commune. The child soon takes it upon herself to help the young woman find romance again (forbidden as it is by their religion); after all, if she can get the young lady to find love again, maybe everything is not hopeless for her. Fascinating a slice of life as 'Water' might spin, the film spends a little too long on the young lady's love affair for its own good. The power of the movie comes from everything being told from the child's perspective with all the hopes and dreams that a youngster still has, as well as all the questioning of traditions and customs that she does not understand. A brief appearance by Gandhi also feels a tad distracting. When the film focuses on the child bride, it is thoroughly encapsulating to view. Sarala Kariyawasam is simply excellent as the young girl in question with a constantly unbroken spirit that is inspiring to view.

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user-182-247099
2005/09/13

Water is a movie about widows that don't really try to escape being a widow or get remarried but one woman thought it was right and she should be able to get remarried. I think this movie is trying to tell us that if you truly believe it is right, and try, it can be achieved. This is kind of like living up to your own world-view. One example of someone living up to their world-view is when one widow wanted to get married and all the other widows wanted to stop her because they believed it would curse them. She fought through them and was able to take down the peer pressure because she truly loved that man. Her whole community was against her but she still was able to go for what she believed was right. Chuyia (the little girl) also showed how she tried to fight for her world-view because when she announced that one of the widows were going to get married, one of the older widows said she couldn't. Chuyia started stepping harshly on the older widow which shows how she was standing for what she believed was right. A final example of a widow trying to what she believes is right is when Didi takes the key from the elderly widow who locked up the widow that wanted to get married. She freed the widow so she could get married, but she knew this would make many have no respect for her. Overall many people in this movie did what they truly believed was the right thing to do in their situation, and some went beyond Gods commandments, not sure if God would be okay with it but it was her world-view and she thought it was true.Arc of Movie: This movie talked about a young widow (around 7 years old) being taken to a widow house with many other widows. She meets a widow named Kalyani who meets a man and wants to marry this man. Other widows say if she marries this man she will get cursed. Kalyani commits suicide and another widow doesn't want Chuyia (the little girl) to live with the other widows in their sad life so she gave Chuyia to the handsome man that Kalyani wanted to marry, when he was on a train with Gandhi.

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user-550-274813
2005/09/14

This film Water, directed by Deepa Mehta is one of the most touching film I have ever seen. Filled with many cultural and religious insights, this film has a very interesting plot, with characters from an ashram ( a house for widows). With the arrival of the main character, seven year-old widow Chuyia, other widows question their lives and begin to doubt the traditions of their religion. She is separated from her parents, her hair is shaved off and she is only allowed to wear white clothing. According to the Hindu traditions since woman have to be devoted to the husband, when the husband dies the wife either dies with him or lives a life of self-denial. In this film when Chuyia's auntie (Patiraji) was dying in the ashram, a widow asked Chuyia to fetch some water from the Holy river. This clarifies that they believe the water of the Ganges River is holy. I enjoyed the fact that romance between Kalyani and Narayan was part of the plot, making the film so much more emotional. Overall this film exemplifies a great image of the life of an Indian widow in the 1930s. Especially followed by the rising figure Ghandi, the end of the film clearly convey the fact that many people in India, not only widows believe that 'Ghandi is one of the few people on Earth who speaks for his conscience.' This quote shows that there are very few people in the world who like Ghandi speaks for the people and speaks for what he truly believes in. I think that Deepa Mehta sent out a great message out through this film that sometimes religions can cause a very unfair life. Sometimes trusting your conscience and bending the rules will lead to a much better and joyful life.

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Bear Mac Mathun
2005/09/15

Water is set near the river through the city of Varansi.Chuyia, who is about 8 or 9 years when the man she married died, although she does not remember her him. Conforming to Hindu customs she is taken to a house of widows to live out her life - although she does not want to go.The house is dominated by two women - the fat domineering Madhumati and the strong, confident head of the house, Shakuntala. In the house, she also meets the beautiful Kalyani - who secretly owns a puppy which she shares with Chuyia. One day, the puppy runs of, and Chuyia runs in pursuit. Narayan catches the puppy and brings him back to Kalyani and is struck by her.Naryan comes from a very rich family and is becoming a lawyer, and is also a progressive and follower of Mohandas Gandhi. He wants India to modernise and to be freed from the traditions he thinks are backwards. So he is willing to break to taboos against widows.Thus, the romance between Kalyani and Narayan starts.Central to the film, are the problems and stigmata faced by the widows. Since they can't work, they must beg to survive. This is often not enough, so Madhumati pimps out the pretty widows to wealthy men in the city. And sometimes the girls being pimped out are very young.When Chuyia first meets Madhumati, she remarks that she was Chuyia's age when she first came to the house of widows. Later, remarks that her husband died when was first having sex with her - indicating that one of the problems is the sexual exploitation of children.There are many cultural and political reference that I was not able to understand. The cultural include the tree under which Kalyani and Narayan embrace.The political element is also very strong - the veneration of Mohandas Gandhi and the Congress Party as the saviours of India. There were also many religious references and comments that I did not understand, that made the film controversial. This is also given away by the quoting of statistics at the end of the film.The cinematography, the soundtrack and the acting were all brilliant. It was tightly directed and very well paced. Deepa Mehta has certainly shown her talents as a director, and I will endeavor to see more of her films.

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