This is a stunning film on so many levels. The screenplay is rich, haunting and deftly written. The acting is profoundly good, especially from Sarala Kariyawasam who plays the role of Chuyia, an eight year old girl who has lost her husband in 1938 India, and is placed into the crippling poverty and abuse of an ashram, as have been 32 million real women in India.

What unfolds is a cinematographic work of genius that will have your heart broken and render you devastated, calling for women’s rights all over the world, not the petty gains we bleat about here in privileged North America. Certainly the film is deserving of it’s eight awards, not the least of them the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Go now and rent, purchase, watch this film. It should be required viewing for every sentient being on the planet.