77
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Village VoiceVillage VoiceThis work of gorgeous fury, about the virtual imprisonment of millions of Hindu widows in the years before independence, transforms Mehta's feminist rage into an eloquent testament to the hunger for freedom.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttExquisite storytelling, acting and visuals.
- 90VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellDeftly balancing epic sociopolitical scope with intimate human emotions, all polished to a high technical gloss, Deepa Mehta's Water is a profoundly moving drama.
- An exquisite film about the institutionalized oppression of an entire class of women and the way patriarchal imperatives inform religious belief.
- 80L.A. WeeklyDavid ChuteL.A. WeeklyDavid ChuteHitches some of the most irresistible conventions of Hindi movie melodrama to an earnest agenda of social protest.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasAs beautiful as it is harrowing.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe stunning Lisa Ray, a Bollywood exile, makes one of the most beautiful widows ever to grace the screen. Vidula Javalgekar gives a memorable turn as the infirm "Auntie." But the real find is Sarala, a Sri Lankan girl who memorized dialogue in a language she does not understand and delivers it with conviction.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleRuthe SteinSan Francisco ChronicleRuthe SteinMehta has created the perfect guide to this strange female world.
- 63New York PostNew York PostGandhi did save India from the British, but he didn't save India from the Indians, and the horrific subjugation of widows continues there even today. It was only 10 years ago that Mehta encountered the Hindu widow who inspired her film.
- 58The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonWater is gorgeously composed and beautifully shot, with a dogged emphasis on water imagery and symbolism, and a luscious sense for color. It's often profoundly beautiful. But its distanced, calculated attempts to draw sympathy, from its wide-eyed child protagonist to its sad-eyed, personality-free lovers to its fairy-tale ending, all blunt the meaning behind that beauty.
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