Humiliated. Those who have an idea of Hinduism know that "sati" has two meanings - in translation from Sanskrit it is "honest" or "real", but more often this word was used in the second sense - so called the rite of burning a widow on the funeral pyre of her husband, and it was not a voluntary decision characteristic of some other cultures. No one asked the victim whether she wanted this fate for herself, and to perform sati was considered a great religious merit, a manifestation of true faith and a good thing for the village. Hindus believed that couples are created forever, that they will pass from one incarnation to another together. The theme of sati for Indian cinema is not new, in particular, in 1987 the film “Journey to Nowhere” was released. Two years later, she was approached by Aparna Sen, one of the few female directors in India.
The film is set in a Bengali village in 1828, a year before the prohibition of this religiously encouraged murder. A short explanation of the essence, and under the drums, screams and lamentations comes the funeral procession. Carrying a corpse, and on other stretchers - clearly something intoxicated, indifferent to his fate, a young woman. Men quietly discussing what is happening are in stark contrast to sobbing wives. The ceremony has long been debugged, everyone knows their place, it looks almost ordinary. The prospect of banning a cruel tradition is discussed immediately and clearly does not like the marchers, the priest himself fanatically believes that faith should not obey the laws, and inspires this idea to the rest of the procession participants.
A young girl, hearing drums, watches the procession from behind a large tree. This is the main character of the film - Umi, walking say that it was she who was supposed to be in the place of the girl who is carried after the deceased. But fate will treat her no softer: this life will also be sacrificed to other people's ideas of due, and until all the circumstances gradually become clear: she is mute, lives in her uncle's house as a servant, her mother died in childbirth, the groom - shortly before the wedding. And even this is not all her troubles: because of her unmarried position, they can not marry her sister, and this is so necessary for the family. “You have to get up early and do everything while we sleep” is like Cinderella, but no, neither fairy nor people will give happiness here.
The film attracts the opportunity to look at those times, shows the features of life and life. Another plus is that in Bengali movies there are no outdated stamps, such as high-aged youngsters and constant dances to sweet music. Actors of special heights of the game do not show, but in general, not bad, some images are memorable. The priest is frighteningly organic in his religious fanaticism. Shabana Azmi coped with the role of Umi, although for such a downtrodden creature looks too well-groomed - beautiful skin, smooth shoulder line, thick hair - all this is not combined with the image of an unhappy, unnecessary person.
Humiliated and insulted - this capacious definition is more suitable for the main character, but the film does not tear for the soul as it should have, judging by the topic. The narrative flows too smoothly, under traditional Indian music (one can assume that strings are used - sitar, wind - bansuri), periodically encouraging the audience with bursts of emotions. These bursts are unexpected and do not create a holistic impression of a hopeless life. Lives when others do what they want: humiliate, beat, use on occasion, deprive all women of the basic right to have a child, marry off a tree.
And the film itself is not bad, and the acting game is not bad, but for some reason the viewer cannot be fully involved in the worries for the fate of the girl. So many events, constantly falling on her blows of fate - everything is shown, but they could not catch the living. The finale of the film finally kills all impression. The brother has already seen what happened, ran after the elders, a group of people, hurrying, moving to the scene, and the viewer is still puzzled: “What? What happened?” What happened to Umi for too long is shown only as a reflection on the faces of the audience. The clarification of the situation is so delayed that the intensity of emotions burns out, and at the moment when everything becomes clear, there is no desire to cry, knock on the table in tears of anger and powerlessness, like Umi on a tree, asking: “For what?” Well, why is that? The stupor of the villagers is unclear whether they became ashamed of their treatment of the girl, or they saw in all this a bad omen for themselves, it is not possible to find out.