Sadly Over-hyped

A Masterpiece!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The Indian Independence Act of 1947 was passed in July 18, 1947. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, once living hand in hand in harmony, quickly turned against each other in all out war. Earth, directed by Deepa Mehta is a depressing movie about life in a City named Lahore during the split of India, into two countries, India and Pakistan a month after the act was signed. Lahore is handed over to Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs, in a rush migrate to what is now currently India, mostly headed to a city called Amritsar.The movie is set beautifully in Lahore before the chaos. Deepa Mehta shows people living in harmony, such as in a scene when a small group of Muslims, Sikhs are having a picnic, a man named Dil Navaz(aka Ice Candy Man) comes up with a beautiful poem for Lenny(the young daughter of a wealthy Parsee couple). They laugh, and shake hands. This doesn't last very long. People start to get desperate. A little girl is married off to a man, and the same group of friends from the picnic start arguing about which country will get Lahore. Shockingly, one of the Muslims says "We'll put the fear of God up your Hindu trousers," and "Even the British say you Sikhs are a headache, a bloody nuisance." Through this, and many other clues, Deepa Mehta gets her message across: things are falling apart, fast. But Deepa Mehta intentionally adds some hope, giving the viewer suspense, forcing them to infer what is going to happen next. After the derogatory comment by the Muslim man, Hassan, the masseur says "why fight amongst friends? We'll stand by each other, won't we?" and Dil Navaz says "Yes, we'll stand by each other."I really like how makes viewers feel strong waves of sympathy, and doesn't hold back from explicitly showing violent scenes, such as a train massacre on Muslims, and a young Muslim man being torn apart with rope tied to two parts. Deepa Mehta doesn't exaggerate events such as these either. Riots shortly after Independence, and just in a few months people in the millions were killed. In the Riot scene, when numerous Hindu tenements are exploding and catching fire, "firefighters" arrive at the scene. But the "water" that they spray turns out not to be water, but petrol, ironically Dil Navaz, who earlier said "In the eyes of God, we are all equal. You are Hindu, I am Muslim, what's the difference?" this time says "Great! The firefighters must be Muslim." with a glint of delight in his eyes. Earth is a film masterpiece. From the beginning it is enticing. Deepa Mehta's courage in being explicit, especially when the movie is about India and Pakistan is great. Because of her explicitness, which I respect, Earth was banned in Pakistan, and six cuts of the movie were made in India. Mehta's coverage of real-social problems in India is unlike any-other, as shown in her trilogy: Elements Trilogy, which includes Earth. Her use of suspense is really good, with moments throughout the movie, where there are sudden, unexpected changes. This movie portrays the chaos in such a meaningful, touching way that any viewer, even those who are insensitive, will have a soft heart for the victims. I do not recommend this movie to those who are looking for entertainment, but for those who are looking for truth, or those seeking to gain a stronger sense of morality. There was not one point where I lost interest during the movie. I rate this movie a 9/10.

Deepa Mehta has such a commanding presence in her films that she is able to leave her audience both educated and devastated by her stories and by the ingenious ways in which she tells them. EARTH is a magnificent example of her gifts and while it may not be as visually luxurious or as touching as her subsequent WATER, it is a fine film that not only depicts a troubled time in India's history, but also informs us of the intricacies of how people relate to each other - first as humans, second as religious sects.The film has at its heart the year 1947 when India was given its independence from Great Britain and at the same time bifurcated into two countries - India and Pakistan. The story opens with a tranquil park picnic in Lahore where friends - Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsee - while away the afternoon in camaraderie. Only slight overtones of edgy topics about religion mar the conversation until the topic focuses on the incipient split of the country into two countries. Each of the friends represents each of the religious sects and it is how these differences, at once unimportant to friendship, end up in separating the friends under the influence of the devastation of bloodshed that follows the division of the country and the displacement of millions of people, all under the guise of independence.There is a strong love story, a committed crippled child who experiences all of the happiness and subsequent tragedy that is to follow and the story ends with some words of wisdom by the grown little girl reflecting on choices made, and other sidebars that maintain interest at every frame.The acting is first rate from a beautiful cast and Mehta's direction makes this tale of change whir by the viewer. For those not educated in the differences of the four religious sects of Hindu, Parsee, Muslim, and Sikh the tale can become confusing: would that Mehta would have included a discussion about the film in an added feature the way she helped us understand the plight of widows in WATER. And the subtitles unfortunately do not translate the English spoken portions of the film, portions that while very important to the story are nearly indecipherable due to the accents of the characters speaking.But these are minor quibbles in a film that pleads for repeated viewings, so beautiful is the movie and so very important is the message. Highly Recommended.

Partition films are inherently political as is shown by the fact that this utterly fair movie was banned in BOTH countries. The fact that it was banned in both countries indicates how unbiased this film is. This film is one about how hatred consumes all. Dilnawaz (Aamir Khan) is a happy-go-lucky guy who gets consumed by a desire for vengeance when he sees his sisters' bodies mutilated. Dilnawaz had told his Hindu and Sikh friends that he would stand up for them if the partition violence came to fighting. Yet, when it came down to it-he reveled in his Hindu and Sikh friends' misery and even advocated their leaving Lahore. The only heroine in this film is the protagonist's (Lenny, Lenny-Baby) mother, who by virtue of being Parsi is protected but does everything to shield the Hindu Aaya (Nanny) of Lenny.

This movie really started the trend of improving Bollywood (I hate that term....let's call it the Bombay Film Industry instead). I try and watch as many foreign films as possible, and loved some of the older films from India by people like Sayajit Rai, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy and Gulzar.However the 70s bought 30 years of trashy commercial formulaic films (so called masala films) which have a bit of fighting, romance and comedy all gelled together with a few songs. At last the fight back begins.Earth is a beautiful story portrayed by a fantastic actor Aamir Khan (see Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai), Nandita Das and Rahul Khanna. The 'train' scene lives with me to this day. Everything about this film is just so right, and it gave courage for others to be more adventurous. Without it we wouldn't have Maqbool or the excellent Teen Deewarein.Please bring out the Region 2 DVD.