Forgotten Woman - Dilip Mehta Documentary

Forgotten Women - Dilip Mehta DocumentaryDilip Mehta offers a real world view of the life some women are forced to live in rural India once their husband dies. Dilip’s documentary, Forgotten Woman, piggybacks sister Deepa Mehta’s Oscar nominated, Water (2005), which portrays a likeminded characterization of the life lived by the rural Indian widow, forced into poverty by her family and living in an ashram. Water is however, a story of fiction.

Daily life in a third world country, even for the affluent, can be shocking to those from first world countries, in general. Though you may drive around in a fancy car, there are people walking alongside your vehicle without shoes. You may be dressed in the finest silks, yet on every corner there is someone standing in just a cotton dhoti. Poverty surrounds you from all sides. With this in mind, I think it is difficult to be unbiased while watching a film like Water, or a documentary like Forgotten Woman.

The India of today is still the India of 100 years ago in some of the rural areas, for instance, arranged marriages still exist. By North American standards this may seem crazy, however, when dealing with two young adults (as opposed to young children who may be arranged), it makes complete sense. In a country of 2 billion people, imagine trying to find mister or mrs right. Families seek out spouses for their children, and if all are in agreement, the ‘children’ are wed. With this in mind, the wealth of a family would be passed down from father to son, so it is not so far fetched that if their son were to die, the wealth would be returned to his family as opposed to existing with his wife, who is merely an appendage of the family.

The casting out of the widowed wife by the husband’s family is where things seem to get extreme. My understanding is that if her husband has an available brother, she may marry him to retain her standing in the family, or she can throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre (which is supposedly legally outlawed now), or she ends up cast out and at the mercy of an ashram.

Forgotten Woman follows the story of two widows in today’s era, who are trying to offer new hope to those in rural India, who have fallen at the mercy of a society who has chosen to leave them behind.

Forgotten Woman recently aired on Hot Docs, and hopefully will be rerun again. Definitely worth taking a look, helping to broaden horizons.

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April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Documentaries 
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Comments

5 Responses to “Forgotten Woman - Dilip Mehta Documentary”

  1. noemi Weis on April 26th, 2008 8:13 pm

    THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN OPENED AT THE VARSITY ON APRIL 25th IN TORONTO .

    PLEASE HELP US BRING A GREATER AWARENESS OF THIS FILM BY SPREADING THE WORD AND ATTENDING THE SCREENING

    THANKS!

  2. coicoi on April 28th, 2008 2:29 am

    I saw her sissy’s “Water”. I love the shots! I love the film! the story! I hope we can watch this documentary here in the Philippines. Do you have any idea where can we access the film? Or will it be shown here in the Philippines?

  3. Reel Ninja on April 28th, 2008 9:20 am

    Hi Coicoi, We are not sure if the documentary will be shown in Philippines but if we come across a way to watch it online, we will let you know.

  4. Lynn on May 21st, 2008 11:45 pm

    Hello;

    I heard about “Forgotten Woman” after it was recently aired and so regret not seeing it. Do you know if it will be aired in Canada again or if I can purchase a copy. I am a fan of Deepa Mehta’s work and didn’t realize she also has such a talented brother.

  5. Reel Ninja on May 26th, 2008 10:15 am

    Sorry, no clue when it might be aired, but stay tuned, we’ll post what we find out!

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