WATER

WATER, 2005

Canada, India |DVD, Color, 117’ |Hindi, Sanskrit
Cast: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas

Canada's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Water follows the story of a widowed girl who was forced to marry when she was eight years old. The film takes place at an ashram that widowed women are sent to for the rest of their lives according to Indian traditions. Due to her close involvement with the women’s struggle, and as a director whose critical approach never fails to challenge patriarchy, Deepa Mehta was forced to postpone the film’s shooting and move to Sri Lanka after being attacked by fundamentalist Hindu groups when she started working on the film in 2000. Without relinquishing for five years, Mehta completed this epic film that avoids didacticism, and crisscrosses effortlessly between its romantic narrative and the spiritual journey of the women in the ashram with all their spontaneity.