Heaven on Earth

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. At the screening Deepa Mehta stated " I will not say "enjoy the movie" but I do hope that it will move you". I could not sleep all night. Last night I watched Deepa Mehta's latest film "Heaven on Earth" at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. I do not think there was a single person at the Imperial Cinema that was not moved by it. The film starring popular Indian film diva Preity Zinta, portrays a young woman imported from the Punjab for marriage to a Brampton limo driver. Using magic realism to portray religious symbolism and imagery, Mehta crafts a very real portrayal of life in a western ghetto-suburb. Medium and closeup shots are effectively used in this film to convey the feeling of the completely isolating and enclosed life of home and work that most new immigrants endure. Heaven On Earth is filled with beautiful images from India, from the hot cup of chai that the mother enjoys at dawn to the old lady dancing at the "sangeet" of the bride. However, Mehta delivers a powerful slice of life without the frills of Bollywood or the fake romance of Hollywood. Chilling yet completely honest. Preity Zinta and Vansh Bhardwaj have delivered career-defining performances. Preity Zinta uses her mother's advice about courage and builds an imaginary world to help her coup with her new life, never once betraying her character and it's innocence. The entire family and its dysfunctional relationship is played out like the prison that is often the hostile confine of the immigrant world. Truly remarkable casting helps this film explore the trials that the young and the old alike face and try to deal with. Violence, like a snake, creeps into everyone. No one is left untouched except for the one that is enlightened from within. Hopefully the film will help immigrants contemplate their situation. Hopefully Heaven will help non-immigrants understand the tribulations of immigrants and in turn encourage compassionate dialogue. And hopefully, immigrants will one day find it easier to fit in and be embraced by all irrespective of their status, religion, color, culture or creed. Until then, many continue to suffer a life which is anything but heaven on earth.