THE WATER MURMURS
Other movies
SANTOSH
Director: Sandhya Suri
When Santosh’s husband, a policeman in a rural district in North India, is killed in a riot, the widow can only keep their home if she takes his job. Eager to succeed, she shows more determination than is usual among the misogynist male police when a low-caste girl is reported missing and then turns up dead. A charismatic senior woman officer, Inspector Sharma, is duly drafted in to head the murder investigation, becoming Santosh’s mentor. Success for women, however, generally means showing they can bend the rules as flagrantly as the men, where survival always comes at huge personal cost. A fascinating police procedural, focusing on the relationships within the force rather than crimes or culprits, the film is an investigation into deep-rooted systemic corruption.
MARIA
Director: Pablo Larraín
Maria Callas, the greatest opera singer the world has seen, died aged only 53 in her sumptuous Parisian apartment, discovered by the devoted servants who had spent their days hiding her pills and trying to persuade her to eat. She had not sung in public for years. Larrain’s swirling work of fantasy shows La Callas remembering - or hallucinating - performances from her past, her long affair with Aristotle Onassis and her loveless childhood in wartime Athens, where she sang for German soldiers. Wandering Paris in her last days, Maria is trailed by an imaginary journalist to whom she tries to explain the pain and effort of creation. Angelina Jolie conveys Callas’s grandeur and her inner tumult in a landmark performance.
FARASAN BOAT 128 KM AWAY FROM ANCHORAGE
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
In 2016, a group of young men headed out on a short fishing trip around Farasan Island, off the coast from Jazan. Intending to be away for only an hour, they were soon driven off course in thick fog, heading unknowingly towards the war-torn Yemeni border. As they realized where they were and tried to head back, their boat ran out of fuel. For 90 hours, they drifted without food or water, constantly at risk from passing pirates or being shot from the shore. There were many moments when they despaired of surviving; then came a glimmer of hope.