Water Analysis
Water is a moving piece that opens our eyes to the oppression of Hindu Indian women widows. The fact that this movie was set to take place in the 1930’s yet the brutal act still occurs today makes the viewing of the film only more crucial.
Context: Deepa Mehta is the director of this film which completes a collection that was labeled fire, earth, water. Originally trying to film in Indian there was enough resistance that she had to relocate to Sri Lanka. The film had to be re-casted and postponed, but once it was created and complete the message was worth the wait. Mehta is not a feminist filmmaker, but a humanitarian filmmaker.
Content: There is a rule that women who are widowed must live as untouchables in a house of outcasts. There is certain food they cannot eat and they are ignored and shunned by normal society. The film takes us through the role of being a widow and how those who do not obey the rules lead a uncomfortable fight. At the end there is hope as one widow who always obeyed the religious law broke it to save a little girl that was to grow up and live as she did. The ability for her to break against everything she previously held as true is strong and brave. Questioning faith and disobeying it are two very different things. The one death that occurs symbolizes the girl who was too broken after trying to free herself from oppression. She feels death is a better sentence than the pain she has endured. No one should be treated in this manner, driven to suicide because of being shunned and abused.
Form: As the title signifies the water of the movie is important. The holy river in Indian is to wash away sins the widows are not allowed to wade into the water, they are suppose to dwell in self-sin. The beauty of nature is significant also. The director herself said the natural beauty contributed another element to the film. The beauty of innocence and ignorance shines through as if to say life should be this easy.
Analysis: All I can say is this is an amazing film. I love learning things about other cultures and I knew nothing of the shunned widows of Indian. The story is painful yet the hope of a happy ending like that of the little girl is the glimmer of hope we all love in the end. There is a possibility to break free, but there is also a significant expression of the oppression women should not have to endure in this stage of evolution. The ability to tell the world that as we fight for the right of a feminist gaze, other women fight for the right to love and be loved, it is an eye-opener to all. Mehta did a great job.
Comments
While watching the film I was most surprised to see the way that other members of the community treated the widows. I am specifically remembering the scene in the river where they often washed, and what must have been a normal citizen and one of the widows touched and the citizen cruelly stated that s/he had to wash again.
I am in constant amazement that people can treat fellow human beings with such disrespect. That kind of mentality is not something unique to a religious caste system, but is more apparent here in the US and the treatment of queer, homosexual and transgendered people.
It just kind of bums me out.
Posted by: Kate | December 15, 2007 08:29 PM