Water

My beloved CAB departed for Spain on Monday. Sunday we drove to St. Louis and, that evening, we went to see Water, Deepa Mehta's new movie. SPOILER ALERT!

Water's story is about widowed (Hindu) women in India, and the cloistered life that they led (and apparently still lead, at least to some extent). The story is set in 1938, just prior to India shedding its British shackles. Chuyia is the nominal protagonist, an 8-year-old widow who is taken by her father in the movie's opening scenes to live with a group of widows in an ashram, largely in isolation from the rest of society. Chuyia's head is shaved and she wears a garment that marks her as a widow. The other widows in the ashram are a diverse group. Several play important roles, but of particular importance is Kalyani (portrayed by Lisa Ray), a beautiful widow in her 20s. She is the only widow allowed to maintain her personal beauty (i.e., her hair is unshorn), but this is because she is prostituted by the nominal leader of the widows (a sort of head mother) to make money for the ashram. Kalyani, because she is exposed to the outside world, and is strikingly lovely, is courted by a man named Narayana. Narayana is educated (a lawyer), a member of a higher caste, but very progressive, a follower of Gandhi (a major character in the movie, though he makes an appearance in only one scene) and the push for Indian independence.

The juxtaposition of Chuyia's plight and Kalyani's story allows writer and director Mehta to tell the story of religious and cultural oppression that comes from within and without. The main theme of the movie, pounded home in many ways, is that women were (and are) treated like chattel. The widows lead a life of self- and other-imposed destitution. One of the widows, Shakuntala, is ever trying to understand the point of the widows' isolation, but is never able to walk away from it the way that Kalyani attempts to. (Kalyani meets a terrible fate that is due to the perverse interaction of the caste system and her prostitution.) Shakuntala, though, in the movie's climactic scene, attempts to preserve some kind of future for Chuyia, who is next in line to be prostituted. Shakuntala puts Chuyia in Narayana's arms as he departs on a train with Gandhi and his followers, a train headed for the future.

Oddly, despite the destitution of the widows' lives, there is a sense of community and family among them. Kalanyi provides money for a funeral pyre for an old widow, "Auntie". Auntie's husband died when she was but a child, and her life has been filled with memories of her wedding day when she ate sweets that she can now only imagine. In one of the movie's most touching scenes, Chuyia buys a ladoo for the old widow just before she dies. There are many other aspects of the depiction of the widow's life that suggest that their destitution is not experienced as such. This, combined with the beautiful cinematography, is jarring in contrast to the movie's main themes, and may be a slight weakness (along with the too dramatic ending). But it is a fine film.

Last thought: Any movie that so clearly depicts religious thought as irrational when it's pushed just a little - and that's all it takes, just a little push - is worthwhile.

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