Deepa Mehta's "Water", the third film in her elemental "Fire"-"Earth"-Water" trilogy, is a gentle yet powerful drama of social protest set in 1938 India. Winds of change were sweeping the country, yet many of its women still remained slaves to harsh ancient marital customs that forbade widows to remarry or to live normal lives after the death of their mates - an outrage that still persists today. But the writer-director doesn't raise her voice, even as she firmly condemns the injustice. "Water" seduces us with its beauty and sorrow.
- Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune.

"Water" is the third film in a trilogy about India by Deepha Mehta, whose "Earth" (1998) dealt with the partition of India and Pakistan, and whose "Fire" (1996) dealt with lesbianism among traditional Indian women. She is not popular with Indian religious conservatives, and indeed after the sets for "Water" were destroyed and her life threatened, she had to move the entire production to Sri Lanka. That a film like "Water" still has the power to offend in the year 2006 inspires the question: Who is still offended, and why, and what have they to gain, and what do they fear?
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.