Full Review

"Water" (Fox Searchlight) is a poignant drama set in 1938 India about the lives of women who, in accordance with Hindu tradition, are required -- following their husbands' deaths -- to live out their days as outcasts in a squalid widows' house, heads shaven and publicly deemed "half-dead."

Forced to beg in the streets for money, the women are forbidden by the cultural caste system to cast a "polluted" shadow on girls on their wedding day lest it bring them bad luck. And anyone who even bumps into one of the widows must cleanse himself or herself in a purifying bath.

The tale opens with newly widowed Chuyia (Sarala) -- a precocious 8-year-old child bride who barely remembers getting married -- being left on the doorstep of an ashram. In a heartbreaking sequence, she cries out to her distraught father not to leave her. She is taken under the maternal wings of two residents: Kalyani (Lisa Ray), a young beauty forced into prostitution by the camp's matriarch (Manorma); and Shakuntala (Seema Biswas), a devout older woman torn between conscience and faith.

Kalyani falls for an idealistic and progressive-minded law student, Narayan (John Abraham), who, flouting the taboo, actively pursues the romance.

Seven years in the making -- protests by Hindu militants shut down the production in India and forced it to relocate to Sri Lanka -- the movie has some lovely river photography (a Sri Lankan waterway doubling for India's Ganges River), which is a recurring motif throughout the film. In fact the river is a main character in the story. Despite the Hindu milieu, the film's use of water as a symbol of hope and spiritual rebirth should resonate with Christians.

And while some may feel the film undermines traditional beliefs, it is the sort of religious fundamentalism that would oppress truth and deny the sacred and equal value of all human life that is the real target here.

Visually poetic with soulful performances, director Deepa Mehta's film is simple yet deeply moving, as it explores the tragic lives of the widows in whose humanity is reflected the dignity of all women.

Subtitles.

The film contains implied prostitution, a suicide, brief drug usage, a transvestite character, some sexual references and a few mildly crude expressions. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.