Though it takes a while to get going and has amateurish moments, Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) is an absorbing story that's as gripping as anything on a nighttime soap opera with the added, unsettling bonus of being grounded in historical reality -- and the freaky prescience of paralleling the rise of fundamentalism in America right now.

The film is set in Pakistan in 1979, 30 years after the brutal clash between Muslims and Sikhs saw many women killed by their own families rather than end up raped by the other side. A few women escaped and married their enemies in order to survive. (This historical context doesn't come out until midway through the film, but it's more helpful to know from the start.)

Ayesha (Kirron Kher) is a liberal Muslim who wants nothing more than for her handsome, layabout son, Saleem (Aamir Malik), to become a farmer and settle down with the spunky girl next door, whom he's already romancing in typical Bollywood, peek-behind-doorways-at-each-other fashion. Into this idyllic world creep two Islamic fundamentalists. Soon they draw Saleem into their dark affiliation with General Zia ul-Haq, who's taking over Pakistan by stoking anti-Sikh sentiment. Meanwhile, Sikhs who were banished 30 years before are returning to pray at the village mosque, and one of them knows a secret about Ayesha.

As if these themes weren't roiling enough, first-time filmmaker Sabiha Sumar sprinkles in retro-feminism. In a delightful bit of role reversal, when Saleem tells his unapologetically college-bound girlfriend that he wants a job in the city, she protests, "But loving me is your job." Silent Waters runs deep indeed.

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1