... Indeed the film has been banned from india and there much effort to do the same to Water.. it seems the indian government are obsessed with hiding their not so pretty past too!
Water is part of her "elements" series which started with Earth:1947 a love story, Fire and now Water. The better ... Read review
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: thought provoking, beautiful cinematography, good characterisation Disadvantages: you will most definetly need a box of tissues at hand - total tear jerker
...past too!
Water is part of her "elements" series which started with Earth:1947 a love story, Fire and now Water. The better known bollywood stars include Johnny Abraham (such a hottie, i hate tht basu chick!!) Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas,
Plot Synopsis: The film is set in the years post independence when india was just starting to come into its own with one foot in the future of self determination and one foot in ... ...traditions that is 1) of the child bride 2) of the ancient (now banned) custom whereby widows either burnt on their husbands funeral pyre on his death or live the rest of their days in a solitary "ashram" - or house for widows, shaving hair, wearing only a one piece clothe of white colour and living life in a very deprived way generally devoting their time to prayer. It was not unusual for widows to be seen as a bad omen much like black ... more
For those who havent seen this film or are considering doing so - go out and get it now!! Can be found on amazon for around 10-12 pounds or find it online and watch it!
This has got to be one of my all time favourite movies by Deepa Mehta - a very contraversial director from india who brought us films such as fire - about same sex love in a normal poor middle class family in india and the consequences of falling in love with the wrong person, as well a heavy critique of indian society. Indeed the film has been banned from india and there much effort to do the same to Water.. it seems the indian government are obsessed with hiding their not so pretty past too!
Water is part of her "elements" series which started with Earth:1947 a love story, Fire and now Water. The better known bollywood stars include Johnny Abraham (such a hottie, i hate tht basu chick!!) Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas,
Plot Synopsis: The film is set in the years post independence when india was just starting to come into its own with one foot in the future of self determination and one foot in past to ancient delibitating traditions. Mehta Explores one of these traditions that is 1) of the child bride 2) of the ancient (now banned) custom whereby widows either burnt on their husbands funeral pyre on his death or live the rest of their days in a solitary "ashram" - or house for widows, shaving hair, wearing only a one piece clothe of white colour and living life in a very deprived way generally devoting their time to prayer. It was not unusual for widows to be seen as a bad omen much like black cats in western folk lore and so these women hidden away and shunned from society. The film focuses on Chuyia a young bride (abt 8 years old) who is both married and become a widow, so young that she doesn't even realise she is one! She left in an ashram by her father where she bravely stands upto Manorama the resident tyrant, becomes close to Kalyani (played by Ray) who is an outcaste in the dead society of widows and become something of a surrogate child to Shakuntala (played by Biswas). Chuyia's entry into the ashram stirs life up and gives a childs view of this austere and quite terrifying environment as well reflect on indian society at the time. Kalyani falls in love with the handsome educated and wealthy Narayan (played by Abraham), who is willing to defy both family, and social conventions to marry his lover Kalyani despite her being a widow. However their love has a twisted and fateful ending when Kalyani makes as sudden discovery - I cnt give more details away otherwise it'll ruin the film for you! Mehta also explores the still darker side - the sexual exploitation of these widows in india under the pretext of tradition and religion during this and ealrier generations.
I was really impressed with the child actor who plays chuyia - she was very good in her role.. and at the start of the film when her father dumps her in the ashram and she convinces herself her mum will definetly come back for her is sooo heart breaking. I so love this child!!
Lisa Ray too gave a very moving and very truthful to the facts type portrayel of her character, there was no glamming up (although she is stunning) for her part and i really believed her character that of a shy, widow also a child bride turned widow not so long ago..
Seema Biswas was exceptionally good.. and it was a somewhat unsual role for her to play but she did it with great empathy and you can't help but feel both love, compassion and frustation with her inability to move away from traditions.
Johnny was surprisingly also good, i never took him for a serious actor i felt before he used his looks to get famous but he showed a another side to his acting skills and he's hot so im happy to watch him all day long anyway :P
Manorama - the tyrant - is a bitch we all love to hate, while at times you see a slight glimmer of humanity and possibly reasons why she became like she is her character is quite detestable
The cinematography was absolutely breathe taking.. and the filming was very artistic both technically and also what certain shots, certain lightening effects and their contations to the emotions captured in the scene...I believe the film was shot in sri lanka.. so beautiful..just like the movie..
Water directed by Deepa mehta is one of the controversial movies in Indian Cinema, Shabana Azmi & Akshay Kumar were suppose to do this movie orginally & Shabana did shaved her head for this movie but the movie didnt took off due to political reasons, and later it was made by casting John Abraham & Seema Biswas.
Cast : John Abraham(Narayan)
Lisa Ray(Kalyani)
Seema Biswas(Shakuntala)
Manorama(Madhumati)
Sarala(Chuyia) Child Artist
Waheeda Rahman(Johns ... ...Plot :
This movie is about the Post Independence Era of India during the British Rule, it revolves around social Issues like child Marriage, Widow Re-marriage, etc. Well In those time there was a law that if your husband dies then the widow either gets burn alive with in the pyre of her husband, marry the younger brother of Husband or lead a self-retraint life until Death. So there is this child marriage of Chuiya and her husband dies, so she is ...
majeedkazi 16.04.2008
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Advantages: Lovely colours, cute dinosaurs and a heart warming tale Disadvantages: none, apart from a lack of featurettes and extra bits
quality of the graphics and animation, I'd say it was quite a let down. It's not really been improved very much from the old Video tape format. The songs and sound quality however is noticably different, either that or my speakers are much better than when we had the VHS's. But the colours still blur, which is disappointing for me as I'd expected some improvement. The kids on the other hand, adore it and don't care that it's not as digitally mastered as other animated films, for example, those in the genre of Finding Nemo and Toy Story.
Title: The Land Before Time 9 - Journey To Big Water
Format: Animated, PAL
Language English
Region: Region 2
Number of discs: 1
Classification: U
Studio: Universal Pictures Video
DVD Release Date: 22 Sep 2003
Run Time: 71 minutes
Overall 4 star rating, a super storyline and follows quite ...
Advantages: an imaginatve story Disadvantages: very poorly portrayed
My attention was drawn to this movie as it was shown as a trailer during my time at the cinema watching another movie and I thought this was a movie I would enjoy. However after hearing many people saying they had been to watch this at the cinema and hated it I decided to give it a miss. The other day as I finished my shopping in asda I saw this DVD for £5.99 and thought oh lets give it a go. After watching it last night though I wished I had stuck to the giving it a miss idea.
The story
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The story of lady in the water is one of building manager Cleveland Heep who rescues a mysterious young woman from danger to discover she is actually a narf (a character from a bedtime story) who is trying to make the journey from our world back to hers. Slowly but surely Heep and his fellow tenants begin to realise they too are ...
Advantages: Seems to Capture the moment in time..... Disadvantages: Nothing like the real show....
by David Gilmour will know exactly what I mean....especially after watching the live 8 concert....
Soon after this we are down to the symbolic event of the " Wall " coming down, along with all the caricatures and cartoon characters drawn by Gerald Scarfe, which were all projected onto the massive full size cardboard " Wall " which spanned the length of the stage.......Visually Stunning Indeed.....but musically a pale shadow of what it should have been.....
We then get a new song from Roger Waters to finish off the show called....The Tide is Turning....and thats it......
Overall, a pretty poor concert, looks much better on DVD than it did on the day I was there.....
All in all......just another prick at the Wall.......in Berlin..
DVD Extras...
This is quite an old one, so there is very little on here, just a few snippets ...
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Languages
Main Language
Hindi
Technical information
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
An exquisite film....Serene on the surface, yet roiling underneath....WATER flows with the simplicity of a fairy tale (New York Times, 20/06/2007)
Lisa Ray is moving as the ill-fated Kalyani, and Seema Biswas endows Chuyia's protector Shakuntala with the slow-burning strength she brought to her title-role debut in BANDIT QUEEN (Sight And Sound, 20/06/2007)
Mehta's use of colour and landscape brings visual splash (Total Film, 20/06/2007)
Deepa Mehta has made a haunting and disturbing film....It emerges as life-affirming (USA Today, 20/06/2007)
DVD Description
When Deepa Mehta first began filming WATER in 2000, angry fundamentalist mobs burned her sets and threatened her life. The Indian government claimed it could not protect her, and the project had to wait four years before finally filming in Sri Lanka. Her film has raised the ire of extremists because it challenges the Hindu customs that dictate that widows, considered half-dead after the loss of their husbands, must be closeted in holy ashrams--a practice that still exists today. Set in the 1930s, the film tells the story of eight-year old Chuyia, whose husband dies before she even meets him. Her parents shave her head and whisk her away to a house of widows where the women sleep on the ground and beg in the streets to earn their puny portion of rice. Chuyia, feisty and resilient, comes into this world like a ray of light, and soon the women are rethinking their mute acceptance of their fate. Her closest friend and ally is the lovely Kalyani, and soon a forbidden romance begins to develop between Kalyani and Narayana, a young Brahmin man who, following the teachings of Gandhi, has denounced injustice. The film is sumptuously beautiful, Chuyia is utterly winsome, and despite the harsh social issues at its heart, it often feels light and lively: Chuyia and Kalyani play games and dance, Chuyia steals sweets for a dying old widow, the women dance and paint each other's faces during a colour festival, and the Cinderella-story romance between Kalyani and Narayana shimmers with the promise of salvation and happiness. Mehta, however, knows it would be disingenuous to allow such an easy resolution to such a dire situation, and the final chapter of WATER takes a tragic turn.
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