Earth takes place at the partition of India in Lahore, which became part of Pakistan. It chronicles the growing sectarian divisions and then horrendous violence by following a group of suitors of one young Hindi woman working for a Parsee family. A lot of the movie is seen through the eyes of the young daughter of the Parsee family. It is not a happy film, but it is exquisitely made, fascinating historically, and worth seeing.
Water also has a young girl as a central character. She is married off young, as seems to be the common practice in India. then, when her husband dies, she is forced to go live in a home for widows, who evidently no longer have any value after their husbands die. again, disturbing, fascinating, and worth seeing.
Men suck, but they evidently suck worse in India. Night before last we watched Bandit Queen, the true story of Poolan Devi, who was also married off young, ran away, was raped, joined a bandit band, was gang raped, became leader of her own band, took revenge, ...
Again disturbing ( I have a big problem watching rape scenes in movies), but well worth seeing.
Last night we watched The World of Apu, which has nothing to do with the Simpsons. Other than soundtrack by Ravi Shankar, there was nothing much to recommend this movie. It is the third in a series, though, and we haven't seen the others. The beginning was OK, but the second half was unbearably drawn out, and the message, if there was one, was weak.
Tonight we are going to watch Monsoon Wedding because I want to see a happy film about India.