A film that explores the line between the good aspects of faith (e.g. humility) and the bad (e.g. ignorance) when an elderly man has a dream that his daughter-in-law is the incarnation of the goddess Kali, and immediately begins venerating her. In Hinduism the idea of one of the deities from its pantheon incarnating as a mortal is fairly common and has some interesting and profound philosophical implications, but here we feel a deep sense of falseness and unease. When the young woman's husband returns to find her on a dais surrounded by chanting worshippers he eventually tries to get her out of there, but she begins to wonder whether she might indeed be Kali, and if leaving may cause the gods to inflict their wrath upon him. It all seems a little crazy - a single fleeting moment in an old man's dream, and suddenly streams of people are coming to a trapped young woman, some bearing sick children and expecting her to heal them.
Before the dream, the old man has a somewhat creepy relationship with her - for example, calling her 'mother' and praising her while she waits on him and tenderly washes his feet. Later we find out she's just 17 years old, and has been married for 3 years, causing some uncomfortable internal math even if it is based on the reality of 19th century India (and apparently a true story). Sharmila Tagore plays the conflicted aspects of the part well, and she was only 16 years old. I found that the film was an interesting look into the culture - and director Satyajit Ray's criticism of blind faith - but the pace of the film was a little too slow for what is a pretty simple story. It finishes strong though, and with some powerful images of Tagore.
