The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.7/10
IMDb: 7.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.70/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Metacritic: 77
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Deepa Mehta
Production
David Hamilton Productions, Flagship International, Noble Nomad Pictures, Echo Lake Entertainment, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Cast
Lisa Ray, Sarala, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Waheeda Rehman, Vinay Pathak, Rishma Malik Scott, Manorama, Raghubir Yadav, Gerson Da Cunha, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually striking, politically charged drama that confronts widowhood, patriarchy, and religious hypocrisy in colonial India with real emotional force. It’s not subtle, and some viewers will object to its Gandhi framing or its handling of trauma, but the film’s atmosphere, performances, and moral urgency make it compelling.
Best for
viewers interested in Indian social dramas
fans of visually lyrical prestige cinema
audiences drawn to feminist historical stories
people who like films about institutional oppression and resistance
Skip if
you want a light or romantic drama
you’re sensitive to sexual violence and trauma
you prefer historically neutral or apolitical storytelling
you dislike overt message-driven filmmaking
Overview
Water is the kind of film that arrives with a clear moral argument and refuses to soften it. Set in 1938, it uses the life of a child widow to expose a brutal social order built on shame, isolation, and obedience. The film’s strongest asset is its atmosphere: the imagery is elegant, the palette is restrained, and the ashram setting gives the story a haunting stillness that makes the cruelty feel even sharper.
Worth noting
Deepa Mehta stages the film as both a human drama and a critique of tradition weaponized against women. That gives it power, but also creates friction. Some viewers will find the Gandhi material too reverential, and others may feel the film moves too quickly past the trauma it depicts. Even so, the performances and the emotional clarity keep it grounded.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the contrast between innocence and social violence. The child’s presence changes the emotional temperature of the film, and the supporting characters give the story its ache and texture. It’s a serious, sometimes painful watch, but one with enough craft and conviction to justify the attention.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sally Jane Black · 76 likes
CW: rape/rape culture, sex work, misogyny/sexism/patriarchy
I have as yet not seen the other parts of this trilogy, so perhaps more thematic details will become apparent when I see the other parts of it. I am under the impression they are only thematically connected, so I've no expectation of continuous plot. Anyway:
I have written elsewhere that I find water and rain as a visual incredibly peaceful and compelling, and that association makes this film's use of water as a… more
sanj · 52 likes
TW:// rape
This film is so pro-Gandhi. And it casually brushes over the trauma of child rape. Irony’s not a strong enough word for that.
I loved all the scenes of Chuyia just being herself at the ashram, just being a kid. I wish the film focused more on her.
Also it’s clear that the academy’s only interested in Indian films when the focus is on oppression. And maybe Gandhi.
Zainal Al-Qautsar (4.5★) · 39 likes
Visually awesome, panoramic, brilliantly acted and bursting with beautiful poetry and imagery, features a sublime romance with a kick to the head you won't forget.
Water depicts the terrible damage that can be done to the human spirit when chauvinistic religious rules and texts are treated as sacrosanct. The inhumane treatment of widows in India by Hindu fundamentalists is similar to the subjugation of women by fundamentalist Christians, Jews and Muslims elsewhere. It is appalling to see religion used to deny the dignity and rights of women.
Julian (Seeking Film) (3★) · 36 likes
Having already tackled the issues of arranged marriage and homosexuality in Fire, and the vicious religious disputes caused by the partition of India in Earth, Deepa Mehta, in the finale of her thematically (but not otherwise) linked Elements Trilogy, turned her sights towards the egregious mistreatment of Indian widows in Water. The strife raised by the concerns dissected in the prior films of the trilogy (specifically Fire) is apparent enough in the fact that Mehta was forced to close out… more Having already tackled the issues of arranged marriage and homosexuality in Fire, and the vicious religious disputes caused by the partition of India in Earth, Deepa Mehta, in the finale of her thematically (but not otherwise) linked Elements Trilogy, turned her sights towards the egregious mistreatment of Indian widows in Water. The strife raised by the concerns dissected in the prior films of the trilogy (specifically Fire) is apparent enough in the fact that Mehta was forced to close out… more
arjunspiegel (2★) · 32 likes
Apart from the other problems that I have with this movie, the one I would like to point out here is projecting Gandhi as a saviour for women. He supported varnashramadharma and advised men to prefer women first from their caste. During his time in South Africa, when a man harassed his women followers he made the women to shave their head, putting the responsibility of sexual assaults on the victim.
Such a person is glorified here as a saviour of women. This is such an upper caste gaze and disrespects other people who actually did something for women in India.
An incisive story of a young woman navigating ideology, repression, and identity, with political clarity and personal force.
Topics
historical drama, feminist cinema, Indian cinema, colonial era, social realism, patriarchy, religious conservatism, melancholic tone, lush visuals, political drama