When I started watching Water, I immediately thought that I should stop watching it & run away because it would be emotionally devastating & be the most depressing thing ever. Why didn’t I read the description? Yes, it wasn’t a typo: an eight-year old widow. I didn’t stop. It was like a swan: gliding calmly & beautifully on the surface with plenty of furious emotion underneath. Sure nothing was explicitly shown, but still…. Culturally, I think some elements were lost in translation so at times, I found the plot too slow and perhaps super unrealistic (Possible spoiler: if you are being pimped out, would you really even be interested in a guy at that point? I don’t know. The whole romance thing felt like a cheat.) This film is made by a woman who currently lives in Canada, but was born in India. Her critics complain that she uses exotic stereotypes in her film. I have no idea if they’re right or not. I do know that even though it is set in the past, unlike Max, which though it felt like the present emotionally, it also felt like an old version of Germany, I have no knowledge of present day India, it was impossible for me to spot historical details unless it was explicitly stated by the characters.