WATER
Canada, 2005, 114 minutes, Colour.
Lisa Ray, Setma Biswas, John Abraham.
Directed by Deepa Mehta.
There was a great deal of controversy in India about the making of Water. Authorities and popular movements condemned the director for her alleged attack on customs, especially concerning widows. The result was that this Indian story was actually filmed in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan locations, especially the river, are beautifully photographed. And there is an impressive finale scene at a railway station during a brief stopover and prayer by Mahatma Gandhi.
Water certainly does attack what seem to be inhuman customs concerning the lives of widows and their status and rights in India. Statistics are offered at the end of the film which suggest that in many areas, abuses are still rife. However, the setting of this story is 1938, the years before the end of British rule and of partition (which was so vividly filmed in Deepa Mehta’s fine film, Earth).
The initial focus is on a little girl, Chuiya (Sarala, eight at the time of filming) who is asked whether she remembers her marriage. She doesn’t - and her family then inform her that she is a widow and that the scriptures of Manu require widows to have their heads shaved, wear white and live in seclusion in a compound together where they have to eke out a living or beg. Seeing this through the frightened and sad child’s eyes makes the widows’ plight seem even more dreadful. We then see the various women, many of whom have spent decades secluded and frustrated, especially the big and imperious woman in charge.
There are two other women at the centre of the film. One is a devout woman, Gyanvati (Seema Biswas), who accepts her lot with faith, believing that there must be some meaning in her life. She is kind, generous and is the saviour for Chuyia, an admirable woman. The other is a young and beautiful woman, Kalyani (Lisa Ray), bewildered by her fate. By chance, a young man (John Abrahams) encounters her and Chuyia and he falls in love with her. Family, friends and, especially his father, who has his own secrets, advise him against marriage. The head of the widows’ community who actually lends out women for procurers is also against the marriage.
The playing out of this romance as well as the fate of the little girl makes for very moving and upsetting drama.
Comments in the background throughout the film remind us of the political situation and the role of Gandhi who is released from prison by the British.
Toronto-based Deepa Mehta also tackled difficult female and feminist issues in her previous film, Fire. Here she makes an effective and moving plea for oppressed women in society.
1.The work of Deepa Mehta, her vision, her understanding of India, her heritage? From an Indian Canadian perspective? Her trilogy? The protests against the making of this film? The death threats? Her aim in portraying this episode in Indian history?
2.Audience knowledge of Indian history, this kind of Indian story? The locations in Sri Lanka, the beauty, nature, the dwellings, the rich and the poor, the railway station, the river?
3.The title, the symbol of water, the opening, the river, washing, drinking, the rain, travelling on the water, death in the water?
4.The 1938 setting, the background of Indian history, the protocols of Manu? In place for two thousand years? Women and their social standing, the religious background, widows and sin, sexual laws? The background of empire, change? Britain, the rise of Gandhi? A symbol of the past in India? And the freedom of its future?
5.The focus on Chuyia: her age, the expressiveness of the actress, her screen presence, her story, her fate, abuse and cruelty? Her not knowing she was married? The death of her husband, travelling with the corpse? Her not remembering, her being taken to the ashram, her hair being cut off, her father, her protest and grief, her being left? The woman in charge and her attitude, her own memories? The other women, their memories? Equivalently in a prison? The old woman and her treatment of Chuyia, Chuyia biting her? Escaping into the kitchen? The sympathetic woman, her tending Chuyia, the turmeric on her hair, keeping cool? And yet the little girl’s reaction? Life, sleeping on the floor, work in the kitchen, moments of happiness, sadness, the old lady who wanted sweets and her getting them? The young woman upstairs, Chuyia meeting her, finding the dog, the secrecy about the dog, in the river, washing the dog, its running away, Chuyia chasing, getting lost, meeting the young man? Her observing the rituals, asking where the men’s ashram was? Sharing with the women, happy? The young woman, the prospect of marriage, her talking to the young man, his visits, Chuyia watching? The standing massage for the old lady, seeing the pimp? The kindly woman in the kitchen, the bond with Chuyia? The tragedy of the young woman’s suicide? The old woman selecting Chuyia to be taken to the young man’s father, the abuse, her being brought back, the kindly woman tending her, taking her to the railway station, listening to Gandhi, taking her to the train, giving the baby to the young man? Portrait of a young girl, the past and future of India?
6.The widows, their status, the laws, the religious taboos, the old woman and her selfishness, the pimp, their chatter, the food for the old woman, laying down the rules? Selling out Chuyia at the end? The old woman with the sweets? The older woman serving the manager, eating her food? The glimpse of the others, their way of life, their fate? Heads shaven, their clothes, poverty, one meal a day, attending the rituals? For the rest of their lives?
7.The young woman and her beauty, living upstairs, her hair not being shaven, the dog as a pet, friendship with Chuyia, going to wash the dog, meeting the young man, the attraction and shyness, throwing the water over the building, hiding? The man’s visits, the outings, their discussions, hopes? Her being taken as a prostitute to the young man’s father, going to the house? The young man taking her across the river, her realising where he was taking her, the dread revelation of the truth about his father, her turning back, accepting her fate, walking into the river and dying?
8.The kindly woman, a religious woman, diligent in the compound, preparing the food, helping Chuyia, the turmeric, the visit to the guru, the rituals, her questions of the guru, the question about her personal desires, the mystery of why such things should happen to women, their fate, her grief? Her caring for Chuyia, taking her to the station, listening to Gandhi, chasing the train, giving her to the young man for freedom?
9.The young man, his father, wealthy, a Brahmin, absent from the house, his wife and her doting on her son, the humiliation by her husband, the sexual betrayal, his idea that Brahmins were superior and could choose any woman they wanted? The young woman as prostitute for him? His son discovering the truth, the strong rebuke to his father? Chuyia being taken by the pimp to the father?
10.The young man and his arrival, a student, his mother’s devotion, his father and expectations, his friends and their discussion, playing the record? His meeting Chuyia, the young woman, the attraction, his return to the ashram, talking to his mother, her dismay, taking the young woman out, their sharing? Taking her across the river, the truth, turning back? His confrontation of his father? His grief at her death, his decision to leave, his following of Gandhi, going to the station, on the train, receiving Chuyia?
11.The glimpse of the pimp, the ambiguous sexuality, the gossip, the cruelty in what he did for his master?
12.The glimpse of Gandhi, his reputation, the young man talking about him, his ideas, released from prison, travelling India, at the station, his contemplation, speaking on the radio? His emphasis about God and truth, the truth is God?
13.The ending, a phase in the first part of the 20th century? Yet the long traditions? The need for the breaking of these traditions? The move towards India and its independence? The postscript and the information about so many widows still in India in similar conditions at the beginning of the 21st century?
