A True Religion

It is an incontrovertible fact that the most vulnerable people have always been the poor. And among them, it is children and widows that are most wretched.

Thus it is said that a religion that is faultless must look after widows and orphans in their distress.

This is the heart and message of Deepa Mehta's moving 2005 film, Water, about a young Brahmin widow trapped in a condition of poverty and perversion.

Chuyia is only 7 years old when her betrothed husband, some twenty years her major, dies. Her family sends her away to a far off ashram to live as a widow forever, as is the proscribed religious practice in India. Her head is shaved and she wears only white cloth to show her new "untouchable" status.

The movie peels away the layers of cultural and religious formalities to show us the true reason for sending widows away to live in isolated communities: money. One less mouth to feed, four saris less to buy, and one cot less to be taken up. In a society of subsistence-level living, one woman is too much of a burden on the family-unit without a man to work for her. Thus children are betrothed at a young age and widows are shipped off to beg for a living.

But the movie does not stop there. It goes into the age-old dark underbelly of poverty: sexual exploitation. Under the delusion of sanctity, old Brahmin men pay to have sex with the youngest widows, justifying it as an honor and a blessing for the women.

It's been almost 10 years since I've cried watching a movie, but Water made me bawl like a baby during the last scene (ha! aptly named). I could've enjoyed it more without the unrealistic Bollywood elements, but eh, whatcha gonna' do.

Water is generally moving and artistic, with strong moral elements. But it manages to manueuver between over-simplicity and meaningless ambiguity with surprising and refreshing agility.

It is a simple cry for human compassion--the ultimate barometer of truth.