Water

Water completes Deepa Mehta's Elements trilogy and it may be the most emotionally wrenching of the three. Set in 1938, it follows Chuyia (Sarala Kariyawasam), an eight-year-old girl who is widowed before she understands what marriage means. Sent to a widow ashram in Varanasi, she discovers a world of women condemned to a living death — shaved heads, white saris, forbidden from remarriage.

The film was shut down during its first shoot in Varanasi in 2000 after violent protests from Hindu fundamentalists who destroyed sets and accused Mehta of "defaming Hindu culture." She remounted the production in Sri Lanka three years later, with a new cast and crew working under a fake title to avoid detection.

Lisa Ray gives a quietly devastating performance as Kalyani, a beautiful young widow forced into prostitution to support the ashram. John Abraham (not the actor, the late filmmaker) plays a Gandhian idealist who falls in love with her. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.