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'Water' ebbs and flows with emotion
by Eleanor Ringel Gillespie

In India in the 1930s (and, some suggest, still today), a woman whose husband had died could do one of three things. 1) Burn with him on his funeral pyre. 2) Marry her brother-in-law, if he'd have her. 3) Disappear into an ashram, a so-called "house of widows," and spend the rest of her life in poverty as a virtual nonperson. Should she refuse these options, she'd be reborn in the belly of a jackal, which probably isn't as much fun as it sounds. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
As Gandhi rises to power in colonial India in 1938, an 8-year-old girl is sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Her feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow who falls in love with a Gandhian idealist.

FILM FACTS ...

Fox Searchlight

'Water'

Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman
Run time: 114 minutes
Release date: April 28, 2006
Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual situations and drug use.
Language: Hindu with English subtitles.
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