The Elements

It is difficult for me to watch Indian films. I don't mean just in terms of Bollywood or the Art films (of Bengal). I mean, it is difficult to watch them in, say Brooklyn, as I did this evening. They put me in a context, far away in time and space, and it is hard to deal with the flood of feelings. It is easy for me to put myself into alternative context to my everyday life while watching Kurosawa, not Ray. Anyway, I watched the movie "Water" (will "wind", "fire" and other elements follow?). It is a powerful movie about the widows of India, circa 1930's, set against the backdrop of Gandhi's rise to leadership and the independence of India. It is terrible how the redemption for the widow(s) is found not within their faith or their daily struggle, but in the sliver of hope and escape that Gandhi presents to them, to rest of the society and ultimately to the whole country. River Ganges and its banks are overpowering.