You won't be disappointed!

Simply Perfect

Sadly Over-hyped

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Its a very sensitive portrayal of life with unquenched or constrained desires. What does one do with desire in a culture and society with rigid norms? One husband finds outlet with the immigrant - since immigrants don't belong or aren't accepted, they don't need to conform and dam their desires. The other husband looks for solace in spirituality and tries to evaporate his desire into nothingness. It fails - of course - and he breaks down in the last scene for multiple reasons. Sita still cared enough for him to find that moment to let him know that he is not responsible for her deviant outlet to her blocked desires. The mother in her still couldn't find the strength to destroy his myth. She sees him as a child who is glorifying himself in his lust-control but should she give him the opportunity to finally grow up? Both the wives find courage and togetherness through their shared rejection by their husband. But the final act of rejection was by the grandmother - she could not break free from her rusted mindset to accept Sita's desire. A decade and more of receiving care was not enough to break the shackles of her culture.Seems like it was easiest for the househelp to let his desires flow - since he's anyway damned by his culture - being at the bottom of the hierarchy. Since there is anyway no respect and expectations, might as well taste sin.

I had great expectations of this film. Though it started with great promise, by the end I felt like I had thrown away 108 minutes of my life.I recently read 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai, and I was interested in some film perspectives on India. I had heard good things about Fire, Earth and Water, and found Fire and Earth to rent.The beginning is beautiful, with lush landscapes and interesting composition. The introductions to most characters were intriguing, and I was drawn into the story. This is perhaps the part that would qualify as 'sensitive' as described in other reviews.Then things begin to fall apart.The first clunk of a hob-nail boot on the floor comes when a character suddenly steps completely out of character - like in a Woody Allen Greek tragedy - to deliver the first Big Message from the writer/director.Things quickly go downhill from there. Like a novice train driver running behind schedule, she begins to panic, short-circuits the characterization well done to that point, and charges improbably toward the inevitable and ham-fisted conclusion. The plot turns become increasingly contrived, the foreshadowing yells out loud, and the train finally crashes into the station leaving a big mess. The only thing left are the harsh Big Messages being yelled by the writer/director over the loudspeaker.I am then left wondering why the film got such favorable reviews. I can only speculate people have awarded tons of bonus points for being daring in its subject matter. I'm surprised that is strong enough to cause people to just bump over the jarring flaws without even a comment.Given the subject matter and religious references, perhaps such a film could only be made by someone drawn from that culture. And perhaps those outside that culture are fearful of being disrespectful to that culture by pointing out that by any more objective external standard, the film - the writing, dialog and plot development in particular - is simply amateur. Promising amateur, but amateur nonetheless.My twelve year old hates writing. He dreams up all kinds of interesting stories, and begins writing with great fanfare. After a short time, he gets bored and cannot wait to finish. He chucks logic, forgets development, and just jams whatever odd events he needs to reach the conclusion of the original story. The result looks like he had to jump on the suitcase to get it shut, and even then half the clothes are still hanging out. The job is started, but never properly finished.I was so disappointed that I decided to take both back films without watching Earth, though reading through other reviews on that, perhaps it is better if there were lessons learned from Fire. Everyone needs a place to learn and grow, and perhaps the promise shown early in Fire is delivered more carefully and convincingly in Earth.But coming on the heels of The Inheritance of Loss, which is something approaching a masterpiece compared to Fire, I'm not quite ready to risk another evening just in case.In the hope that Earth and Water are better, I would suggest starting with one of those instead. Chalk this one up to inexperience.

I admire Deepa Mehta and this movie is a masterpiece. I'd recommend to buy this movie on DVD because it's a movie you might want to watch more often than just once. And trust me, you'd still find little meaningful details after watching it several times.The characters - except for the grandmother perhaps - are all very balanced, no black and white. Even though you follow the story from the perspective of the two protagonists, there is also empathy for the other characters.I think the IMDb rating for the movie is far too low - probably due to its politically controversial content.

There are questions that sometimes hover over us and have no answer. Two women progressively find themselves ensnared in each other's arms (as corny as the expression sounds, that is exactly what happens) and fins that they cannot answer their own question as to what defines their relationship when their very own society has no name to what they are. Deepa Mehta's somewhat mis-titled FIRE is the first of a loosely connected trilogy, here linked by the theme of the elements, and more symbolic than consuming. Fire as uncontrolled erotic passion does not make an appearance here, since the women -- the older and more feminine Radha (Shabana Azmi) and the younger, more masculine tempered Sita (Nandita Das) come to realize they share a lot more than common ideas and affection for each other and stand for what they believe is their passion for each other despite the opposition faced by their very traditional husbands and families. As in WATER, FIRE is deeply spiritual, even if it technically falls into the mode of sentimental melodrama (where WATER, much like the weight of the word, carries a stronger meaning that ultimately transcends its definition). Even so, it's a very beautiful picture, and a strong voice from a strong director.