water posted by imani , Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 8:05 PM, in Labels: something else

Monday night means ‘baratillo night’ in Clark. A baratillo is a flea market – where you can get cheap goods – from clothes and curtains even get ones that you can eat – street food like isaw (chicken entrails), sago’t gulaman and siomai. I got myself a DVD. It is a known fact that I go to Quiapo, or in this case, Clark to get fake DVDs – I know that piracy is a crime but thank God for piracy, we now have access to films that probably will never be shown in Manila, much less have their DVDs distributed here.

I saw the movie ‘Water’ (released in 2006) which starred Lisa Ray as the tragic Kalyani, Seema Biswas as Shakuntala and Sarala Kariyawasam as the child widow Chuyia. The movie was directed and written by Deepa Mehta and is the third installment in her elemental trilogy. It was preceded by Fire (1996) and Earth (1998). As the title would suggest, it pertains to something that never stands still – which in this case, would be the shift in ideology and emotions of two of the main female characters in the movie.

The film talks about a rather taboo subject in India – the treatment of the widows. According to the Sacred Texts, a woman only is left with three choices when her husband dies: she must burn with his remains, remarry his younger brother (with the family’s approval, of course) and lastly – live the remainder of life in self-denial. Because of this, the women are taken to ashrams (an institution for widows – which in this case would be found in Varanasi, a holy place for Hindu pilgrims, sitting in the left bank of the Ganges River), where they are supposed to atone for their sins which caused their husband’s demise. Sending them to the ashram would also mean alleviating the widow’s family of emotional and financial burden. The movie was set in 1938, when India was under the colonial rule by the British. Despite this, the locals were still following unchallenged hypocrisies mistaken as traditions. This was also the era when a man named Mohandas Gandhi dared to defy some of the country’s long standing customs.

Chuiya was taken to the ashram at a tender age of eight. During that time, it’s a commonplace in several parts of India to have a young girl married to an older man. Chuiya was convinced that her stay in the ashram will be temporary, but she’s almost immediately, sternly initiated into the life and ways of a widow by Madhumati (played by Manorama), the ruler of the house, where Chuiya was forbidden to enjoy any form of pleasure in life – including eating sweets and mingling with people outside of the ashram.

This forsaken place is where Chuiya meets the enigmatic yet isolated, Kalyani, a role impeccably portrayed by Lisa Ray – she is the only widow who hasn’t cut her hair – all for one reason – she’s secretly being taken to houses lying on the other side of the river, as a prostitute. Chuiya was instrumental to Kalyani’s desire to resist the injustice of being a widow, as she meets Narayan (played by John Abraham), who first became a friend to the young Chuiya. After the first meeting, Narayan immediately fell for Kalyani, and since he’s been educated in the city, his points of view are a bit more modern and does not believe that widows shouldn’t have the chance to find their happiness by remarrying.

Madhumati soon learns about the tacit connection between Kalyani and Narayan and all hell breaks lose in the ashram. Madhumati rushes to Kalyani’s secluded hut, shears her waist-length hair and locks her up until she ‘comes to her senses.’ Prior to this, Kalyani has confronted Madhumati why she cannot remarry, the latter said it will disgrace all the widows in the house to seven lifetimes of being reborn as jackals, but also said that she’s being ferried across the river for survival – making Kalyani their source of income.

Shakuntala breaks her silence and frees Kalyani, over the protest of other widows. As a quiet act of rebellion, Kalyani slowly walked out of the house, leaving everyone else speechless. She meets with Narayan and he asks her to marry her. When the two headed toward the other bank of the river, Kalyani recognized the portico and asked Narayan of his father’s full name. ‘Seth Dwarkanath,’ uttered Narayan. The sound of the name alone left Kalyani distressed and ordered him to turn the boat around, unable to mention the reason for her change of mind.

Narayan’s father revealed that he has used Kalyani as a prostitute. The lovers are now, so suddenly, apart and forlorn – Narayan storms out of the house. The next day, he arrives at the ashram to take Kalyani to Calcutta with him, only to be told that she drowned herself in grief the night before.

The next day, Chiuya was insisting to go home, Madhumati told her that by a hijra (eunuch) will take her to her parent’s house, only to send the poor, little soul to another house, making her the next prostitute for Narayan’s father. Shakuntala soon learns of this, and tried to rescue Chuiya from the misfortune, but she got to the shore in time for Chuiya’s return. The child was traumatized by the incident, Shakuntala was left with no other option but to wait by the shore until dawn so she can take her to the train station.

At the station, Gandhi was preparing to board the train, but before this, he left his countrymen a message: ‘For a long time, I believed that God is Truth, but now I know that Truth is God. The pursuit of truth is invaluable for me, I hope it’s the same thing for you.’

In an act of despair, Shakuntala runs along the train, asking people to take Chuiya with them and give her a new life. Narayan sees her and quickly grabs Chuiya. In a sense, Chuiya’s character is one that embodies reform and rebirth – as she is given the prospect of a better life outside Varanasi.

I have only seen Lisa Ray in ‘I Can’t Think Straight’ before I stumbled upon ‘Water.’ And though she was a lot younger in her work as Kalyani, she was luminous and she personified her role - and took long, grueling hours studying the widows in Varanasi (the film was filmed in Sri Lanka but Ray went to India months before to observe their behavior). It is through the significance of her character and its moral obligations that she moved to the forefront and captured the attention of the audience. She’s tragic yet she’s the hope for change, as she breaks the norm of the widow house. She gave her all in the performance and what was translated in the screen was an imperfect yet unsullied character that added to the dimension and depth of the movie.

‘Water’ is so compelling and immensely intriguing, that despite its heartbreaking quality, is emphatically one of the most lyrical movies I have seen in years. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007.