THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN

Director: Dilip Mehta
Run Time: 120 minutes
Country: Canada
Year: 2008
Language: English, Hindi with English Subtitles
Rating:  G

Reviews: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009811-forgotten_woman/

The harrowing, resonant documentary The Forgotten Woman is the newest project by the very talented Dilip Mehta. The brother of Deepa Mehta (Fire, Earth, Water), Dilip Mehta served as production designer and associate producer on the award-winning Water, one of the most popular films to date on Film Circuit. Mehta has also worked for years as a photographer and photojournalist, publishing his work in National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and other publications; he also served as stills photographer on several feature films, including Gandhi.

Perhaps inspired by his work on the deeply moving Water, Mehta here turns his lens to the Hindu widows of India; there are an estimated thirty-three million of them subject to the cruel codes that dictate they live in virtual destitution. Forbidden from remarrying, they remain on the fringes of society, where they are exploited, struggle with extreme poverty and are forced to do inhumane work. All of this is done in the name of tradition, resulting in a state of affairs that has them living in institutions that effectively remove them from society at large. As the film chronicles their dire conditions, it also reveals a small but potent ray of hope in the form of a Canadian activist, herself a widow, who makes a trip to India and decides to stay in order to lobby for the freedom of these women. Using the credo that knowledge is power, she seeks to  eviscerate the ignorance – perhaps wilful – that surrounds the slavery of widows and lobbies to give them the gift of economic independence.

Mehta directed, shot and edited this film, which contextualizes the widows’ story by comparing their treatment today to their conditions in the past. Despite the fact that some progress has been made, the film demonstrates, there is still much work to be done in the name of creating awareness and alleviating the human-rights violations afflicting millions in the world’s second most populous nation.

“[Director Dilip] Mehta has done a fine job of getting the message out to the world.” – Susan Walker, Toronto Star

 

DocsPlus08 Schedule October 27 - The Counterfeiters October 27 - Shine a Light October 28 - Encounters at the End of the World October 28 - My Winnipeg October 29 - Young@Heart October 29 - The Forgotten Woman October 30 - Up the Yangtze October 30 - T'Is Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris