Water

Deepa Mehta's magnificent film about liberation. We are in India under British colonial rule in 1938, at the same time that Mahatma Gandhi is beginning to make his mark. Chuyia has become a widow at just eight years old. Tradition and religious laws dictate that as a widow she must live a life of renunciation and atone for the sins that caused her husband's death. She is taken to a collective of widows (ashram), where she gets to know Kalyani. Together they meet Narayan, a young, idealistic lawyer who is also a follower of Gandhi. Kalyani and Narayan fall in love, which proves problematic because Kalyani is a widow. Nevertheless, they defy the laws and meet in secret. The filming of Water was plagued by problems and controversies, but it received brilliant reviews and was also nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film.