This is effectively about the horrific beast that lies within us. All of us. Waiting to disclose itself when the opportunity is right.1947 Earth is a brilliant watch, set in the time of the partition of India and Pakistan. In reality, worse must have taken place during that time than what is depicted in the movie.The settings are superb, the script is superb and the acting superlative. The most powerful aspect of this movie is the terrifying realisation of the beast that lies dormant within each and everyone of us, just waiting to be unleashed if the circumstances are ripe. That is indeed horrifying.This is the third in Deepa Mehta's portfolio of Water, Fire, Earth. In a word, this is superb as are all her movies.

Having seen a few of Deepa Mehta's movies recently this movie was certainly a powerful story and was well filmed. But there seems to be a quality about Mehta's movies which seem to be so cerebral that they detract from the emotive intensity of what is India.The stories she finds are so compelling and yet I believe that the movie-making and acting are not stitched together as well. Take away the historical setting and it seems to collapse not because you removed one critical element, but because it is the only substantive element.I can see why people enjoyed this movie, but I wish there was more. I wish she had dealt more deeply with the group of friends and the tension between their own religious differences. It was more about the partition happening around and I believe Ms. Mehta might have let slip an opportunity to have made the whole tale far more poignant. The setting of the Parsee family's nanny seemed to have very little relevance in the story - the professed Parsee inclination to side with whoever is in power does not contribute to the story.Instead it is a potent spectacle as one watches from the outside, but there is no overt invitation or quiet pull-in to the movie.

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.

Having seen this few years ago, the first thought was what it had to do with the India-Pakistan partition in 1947. The film neither shed light on the actual circumstances involved nor addressed the social, economic or political ramifications of the massive uprooting of Northwest India into two separate nations.The partition was not about one family, it was about thousands. Nothing in the movie even tries to address this basic fact. Unknown multitudes were left behind. Many lost everything in the shuffle. The politics of why it happened has been brushed aside as inconsequential, when that in fact is why the *historical account* is so riveting. Six decades later, the two countries are still divided over those political and religious issues, ready to go to war at a moment's notice. That this needed to be pointed out shows how out-of-context the movie really is. And then she goes and calls it 'Earth'! Get off your high horse, woman.Mehta is a film-maker who makes stuff for Western consumption. That is fine but she should refrain from taking liberties with Indian/Pakistani audiences who went through the "horror-show" and survived to tell their stories. Mehta should have watched the Hindi TV serial Buniyaad to get SOME clue. Useless side elements filled up the lack of narrative in the film. The characters are totally unempathic and one fails to connect to anyone except the little girl. And what can one say about the direction or technical side of Mehta's "human-interest piece"? Not much.And if this really was Lenny's story, why muddle it all up with a hare-brained depiction of such a monumental calamity??? If you can only deal with a serious subject with the passing curiosity of an outsider, and have no maturity or emotional depth when interpreting its impact on an entire sub-continent, WHY BOTHER TO DELVE INTO IT AT ALL??