Referenced at a distance in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi is the bloody conflict that erupted when the British abruptly pull out of India on August 15, 1947. Idealists like Gandhi had believed that Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs would be able to coexist side by side even when partitioning the Muslim state of Pakistan off from the mother country. But the transition to independence was anything but peaceful. Over one million were massacred and seven million displaced in the "largest and most terrible exchange of population in history."

While Attenborough's film is detached and sanitized enough for the Indian and Pakistani governments, such is not the case with Deepa Mehta's Earth, based on Bapsi Sidhwa's autobiographical Cracking India. The two governments have banned her powerful 1998 film for political reasons. Born in Amristar, India and emigrating to Canada at the age of 23, Mehta is familiar with censorship from her native country; the other two parts of her trilogy (Fire and Water) are also outlawed in India and Pakistan. Mehta's melodramatic treatment is far too intimate and packs such an emotional impact that make political institutions uncomfortable with the darker side of their history.

Situated in Lahore (before it becomes part of Pakistan), the film is told primarily from the point of view of a young crippled girl (Maia Sethna as Lenny Sethna), who lives comfortably with her wealthy and good hearted Parsee (Zoroastrian) parents. Lenny makes an ideal choice for "objective" observer--childlike innocence combines with the non-political viewpoint of her religious background. Disturbed by rumors about Lahore splitting from India, Lenny deliberately drops a clay vase while questioning how a country could be broken into pieces. Her parents likewise hope for continued "harmony" and tell her to ignore the rumors. Seen as neutral, Lenny's Parsee parents employ both Hindu and Muslim servants and are intimate friends with prominent Sikhs.

Lenny's beautiful Hindu nanny ("ayah") is Shanta (Nandita Das), who appears even more striking than she does as the protagonist in Fire. With her luminescent skin and glowing eyes, it's totally believable why she attracts male friends of all religious persuasions the same way a flame draws hopelessly obsessed moths. Two main Muslim suitors emerge from her circle of friends--a masseur named Hasan (Rahul Khanna) and an “Ice Candy Man" named Dil (Aamir Khan). Shanta eventually grows to love Hasan, and Lenny is present for their first tentative kiss and later witnesses their first moments of love making.

Most of the film takes place before violence explodes in the region, yet ominous signs are sprinkled throughout the narrative. Shanta and her cadre of multi-cultural friends meet regularly in an idyllic park, but ill-chosen religious jokes and political discussions sometimes take place. Shanta makes it clear that talk about religion and politics is off limits, but this remains an increasingly uncomfortable undercurrent. Before long, her friends observe that Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs are isolating themselves at the park.

The most joyful scene takes place on Dil's rooftop during a daytime Muslim celebration that features brightly colored kites and is appropriately accompanied by A.R. Rahman's lively Indian musical score. That same rooftop serves as a nighttime viewpoint when all Hell breaks loose--militant bloodthirsty mobs seek vengeance as a Muslim man is drawn and quartered by a pair of police vehicles and Hindu tenements are set aflame by gasoline dosing fire trucks. Shanta attempts to shield her young charge from the violence, but all innocence is now shattered. Lenny soon repeats the horrific scene at home with a doll, which horrifies her nanny.

Anything we've read about India's independence and the border conflicts that took place during this time pale when watching the devastating final scenes of Earth. Its power lies with the personal touch that Mehta applies to the apocalyptic events that took place at that time and place; in fact, it's so personal that we really don't need a great deal of background to understand the horror. After gaining entry into various relationships in the multi-cultural neighborhood, we witness how they are ripped apart when mob hysteria overtakes humanity. No one emerges unsullied, including little Lenny, who adds a poignant postscript reflection of those days to end the film.

How religious prejudice could reach the evil depths shown in Earth is unfathomable, yet Mehta paints a penetrating portrait that cannot be ignored or ever forgotten.

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