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One of the very first images we see is of a lotus surrounded by stagnant water, which taps into a common Hindu and Buddhist motif regarding the potential for purity and beauty despite an impure environment. This theme is spelled out later, when Kalyani says she puts up with her low station in life because, according to the Lord Krishna, a person must "learn to live like a lotus, untouched by the filthy water it is in." In addition, the Ganges, though a sacred river to Hindus, symbolizes in this film the division between the castes, as well as the exploitation of one group by another; and, ultimately, it is linked with despair and death.

Director Deepa Mehta and Lisa Ray on the set

To be sure, there are positive references to "God" here and there, but they are expressed in essentially secular or anti-religious ways. Near the end of the film, Gandhi himself tells his followers, "For a long time I thought that God is truth. But today I know that truth is God." This is not unlike the tendency among certain people to say that, if God is love, then love is God. The problem with this approach is that it makes God our follower, not our leader; we put ourselves in a position where we must define truth and love on our own, without any reference to God, and we turn to him only to have our definitions rubber-stamped.

The film presents a contest between faith and conscience, and, just like all those Hollywood films about people who learn to follow their hearts, it plays into the common belief that one's conscience is never wrong. In this case, though, it's easy to see why the consciences of certain characters are right and the faith in question is wrong, even if you don't come at the problem from the same perspective of the director. Full of lush, fluid cinematography and evocative music, from Mychael Danna's score to the songs by A. R. Rahman, Water is an important look at a social injustice, and Mehta's most accomplished film yet.

1. Do you think this film critiques Hinduism from within the religion, or from outside it? Note how, after one widow dies, someone says, "God willing, she'll be reborn as a man." Note also how one character says, "The holy texts say all this is an illusion," and another responds that their friend's death "was no illusion." Is it easier to agree with this film's critique if you come from an entirely different religious framework?
   
   
2. If you were to critique the Hindu practices depicted in this film, would you do so as an outsider, or would you try to find a way to critique them from within Hinduism? Why or why not? Should non-Christians critique Christianity? If so, how? If not, why not?
   
   
3. Which characters sincerely follow Hindu beliefs, and which do not? How do people justify their deviation from traditional Hindu belief? Note how Gandhi, a sympathetic character, says he used to believe God is truth, but now he believes truth is God. And note how Madhumati, an unsympathetic character, justifies sending supposedly chaste widows into prostitution by saying, "How we survive, no one can question-not even God!" Do either of these characters put God first? What, if anything, distinguishes their attitudes?
   
   
4. Shakuntala asks, "What if your conscience conflicts with your faith?" Has your conscience ever conflicted with your faith? How did you resolve the conflict? Is the conscience ever wrong? Is the faith always right? How have Christians wrestled with conscience-versus-faith issues in the past (e.g., Martin Luther's "Here I stand" speech)? What does the Bible say about the conscience (e.g. Job 27:6, Romans 2:15, 1 Corinthians 8:7, Titus 1:15)?
   
   

Water is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual situations, all of which is kept off-screen (a couple of widows, including a child, are forced to prostitute themselves; their pimp is a transvestite eunuch), and for brief drug use. One character commits suicide.

Photos © Copyright Fox Searchlight Pictures

© Peter T. Chattaway 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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