Earth

Year: 1998

Grade: B-

Country: India

Director: Mehta

Review

part of a trilogy (fire and water [not yet released] are the others), but not related in the way that the lord of the rings films are. this one covers india in the midst of its fight for independence from british rule. this leaves a power vacuum and different religious sects, once united by a common enemy, now turn against each other. the film follows a group of friends of different religious beliefs who are trying to find their place in the new society. they have plenty of heated debates about events and eventually things turn so bad that they all more or less turn against each other. if nothing else, it’s a good film because it captures a snapshot of an important time and place. beyond that, though, the film is a good human drama. it’s not amazing, but the love story drama amidst political upheaval always makes for a good story, and it’s well executed. the dvd was sped up just a bit for some reason and that was a bit distracting. i’ve heard that there can be problems when converting from PAL format, so maybe that was the cause.