Monday, April 14, 2008

What the director said...

I've been on a big kick of watching the director's commentary on films. I've even been renting films I've already seen, just to see if there is a director's commentary.

For those of you who are not movie nerds, the director's commentary is a setting in "Bonus Features" where you can rewatch the movie with the director telling you all kinds of wonderful- or stupid - things during the entire run of the movie.

Superbad, Anchorman, Knocked Up, have been recent ones that have - perhaps - not really been my style, BUT last night, I watched the director's commentary for Water.

Deepa Menta kept me captivated for hours - and had me in tears twice. At one point she was discussing her motivation for one of the main characters - a pure and sweet young widow who is being prostituted to the wealthy local men to support the ashram. She quoted the Bhagavad Gita, and to paraphrase here - Be like the lotus flower in contaminated water, be in the water, but not of the water.

I love this quote so much. It perfectly describes how I want to live my life - helping those that are struggling to find peace, while preserving my own sense of calm and purity.

So while I could live without Will Farrell trying to push the limits of what he can say on the "uncensored" director's commentary, I am so grateful for the time that Deepa Menta took to explain her process, her unfaltering commitment to make that beautiful movie even as Hindu fundamentalists shut them down, and her desire to show women's lives in a heavily paternalistic culture.

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