Viff ‘08: Special Presentations: Heaven on Earth

Intense.  Important.  Impressive.  Deepa Mehta has created another great film.

I found Heaven on Earth surprising in its intensity.  But given the subject matter – abuse – it is more than appropriate.

The context is that a mail order bride arrives in Toronto from India, with nothing but hope that her new husband and family will be decent human beings…they aren’t.  They aren’t monsters, they are like most in western civilization: deeply wounded and willing to pass on their abusive training to others around them.

What makes this film unique is that it is set in the South Asian community and it both shows how domestic violence exists and is covered up.  The impressive aspect is that it also shows the pain that the abuser goes through.  Yes, they are fucked up, but they are human and rare is the human that causes pain without having received it (and therefore learned how to create it).  This film doesn’t go far into that realm but it does touch on it.

Thankfully, there is a character that doesn’t accept the bullshit that is abuse.  Her methods for dealing with it are hilarious and it provides for a subtext that I don’t fully understand, but readily appreciated.

See this film.  It will have a big release and rightly so.  The NFB scores again…

For more info, click here.