Water, a story of concern and anger about the conditions of widows in India, represents a plaintive plea for sanity by director Deepa Mehta. Her movie, set many decades in the past, is about a group of these women living in a widow house (an ashram). Because their husbands have died, they are now shunned figures in society, expected to spend their lives in perpetual mourning, thus deprived of even basic pleasures.

As the story begins, a new widow is about to be sent here -- 8-year-old Chuyia (Sarala), betrothed to a man who expired shortly after a wedding she doesn't even remember. Unable to come close to comprehending what is going on, Chuyia loudly pouts about being abandoned -- the situation may seem extreme, but the calm inevitability with which the film unfolds suggests it isn't uncommon.

Mehta's agenda is evident, but it's one worth advancing, so her challenge with Water is to make it approachable without feeling preachy. She succeeds admirably because the movie is lyrical and observant; her characters have purposes in presenting certain arguments, yet their human qualities come through. Although she leads the viewer by the hand through her carefully written scenarios, she exercises much restraint when it would be easy to be forceful. For the moments in which force does present itself, though, a pure anger can be detected, and I think that gives the movies its bursts of strength. It's a tricky balancing act, well pulled off.

Much of the movie's effectiveness comes from its not having an identifiable source of malice. The audience isn't allowed to focus its indignation on any particular character or institution.  The injustice comes from centuries of accepting social rules, originating in old religious beliefs and perpetuating themselves through tradition. The major widow characters each represent a different stage in the ingraining process. Chuyia is the clean slate whose indoctrination will begin through acclimation. Kalyani (Lisa Ray) has accepted her circumstances and tries to make the most of it, but is still youthful enough not to have full convictions in her beliefs in this system. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) is older and wiser, but her wisdom has opened the door to doubt. Meanwhile, there is also an elder widow (Vidula Javalgekar), a weathered soul lost in memories and regrets, and a matriarch (Manorama) who enforces the system and represents those who strongly abide by it.

Mehta's concern presents itself in two ways -- she expresses empathy for the women in their situation, but she's also incensed at traditions that people can't let go of even in the face of raw inhumanity. Her movie is as much anti outdated-religion as it is an exposé of the illogic in people's natural tendency to honor and adhere to traditions no matter how outmoded. The film becomes another round of ammo in the argument that a society's unwillingness to adapt to the changes brought on by an evolving, shrinking world causes much of its misery. For example, the widows are their own enforcers -- they aren't exactly imprisoned, but they know their place and live their lives under the oppression of a misguided sense of honor in self-discipline. (This approach, by the way, counters the one used in the similarly-themed Whale Rider, which I thought was the main weakness of that otherwise effective movie).

Meanwhile, agents of change are introduced, but all indications in Water point to change being difficult and not without pain. A young man named Narayana (John Abraham) advocates progressive thinking -- but finds many unexpected challenges in being able to hone and adhere to his point of view. The presence of Gandhi is used symbolically as a visible but not quite easily attainable goal of modern enlightenment. This is Mehta's admittance, naturally, that the road worth traveling is expected to be long.

Admirably, Mehta has a point of view and really goes after it. To attack religion and tradition is as much the courageous act today as it has been throughout all of history; to go after them with a soft touch, a beautiful visual presentation, and provocative jabs sprinkled throughout in order to wake up the humanist side of the viewers' intellect displays virtuosity as well as courage.

(Released by Fox Searchlight and rated "PG-13" for mature thematic material involving sexual situations and for brief language.)

Review also posted on www.windowtothemovies.com.