Water

Water is a Canadian film that was shot in Sri Lanka, but it is about India, specifically the treatment of widows. The Hindu culture has two traditions that, hand-in-hand, can be devastating to a young woman. They can be married off when they are very young girls, seven or eight years old, and if their husband dies, they must live a life of self-denial, never marrying again, and being shunned by the population.

The story begins in 1938 with eight-year old Chuyia being awakened by her father. "Do you remember being married?" he asks her. "No," she answers. Then she is told that the husband she had never met has died, and her head is shaved and she is packed off to an ashram, a house of widows, who wear nothing but white, do not eat fried foods or sweets, and avoid the company of men. Chuyia quickly comes to realize she will live there for the rest of her life, as some of the women there are quite elderly. One old woman is kind and dreams of eating sweets again. Another is like a prison warden, bossing the others around.

There is one widow who keeps her hair long, and lives set apart from the others. She is very beautiful, and when Chuyia sees her for the first time, she says, "Angel!" The character is played by Lisa Ray, a former model, and we come to realize that she is being pimped out by the boss lady to a procurer, a eunuch who acts as a go-between.

Into this picture comes Narayan, played by John Abraham. He is a young law student, and admires Gandhi, who is just starting to come to power. When he sees Ray (the widows are allowed out) he understandably is smitten, and scoffs at the traditions. He endeavors to rescue Ray from the ashram and marry her. Of course, things don't go precisely as planned.

This film is lovely, if not a bit slow in spots. It was directed by Deepa Mehta, and the history of the production was rocky, as it was shut down by Indian authorities, because of protests by Hindu extremists. We find out at the end that there are still 34 million widows in India who are treated this way. It's an interesting, heartbreaking topic, well shot and acted. It is worthy of its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.