Steineded How sad is this?

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

HeadleyLamarr 1947 Earth is a story about the partition of India told from the perspective of a little Parsee girl living in Lahore. The little girl has a beautiful Nanny (Nandita Das) who takes her for many walks in the various Lahore parks. There she hangs out with men of various ethnicities - Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and various lowly occupations like masseur, ice-candy seller, lion keeper etc. Nary a woman is seen to venture anywhere near this crowd. The Parsee parents are genteel, rich and also mingle with upper crust people of various ethnicities. Talks of partition are in the air, there is chaos in the streets yet the nanny continues to take the kid out on walks and into the bustling inner city streets. The parents seem to have abdicated all responsibilities toward their child. The Ice Candy man (very well played by Aamir Khan) is secretly in love with the nanny, but she loves the Masseur (very well played by newcomer Rahul Khanna). Ms. Mehta wants to show us all the bad aspects of human nature in the Indian subcontinent, an entire trainload of Muslims butchered, talk of rape between little children, untouchables, conversion, religious bigotry, child marriage, husband worship (the Parsee wife taking off husband's shoes and then getting close, very close to his feet - do the Parsees have a thing about revering by touching feet too?) etc. But in the end she does not manage to touch my heart because of these sidelines of dramatic moments. The movie comes across as unduly sensationalist and dramatic.What redeems the film to a great extent is the excellent camera work, the divine music nd above all some great performances. This is some of Aamir's finest work (barring a few moments of insanity as a fakir) he is able to portray the dark character well. A little more expression of conflict as he turns from friend to enemy would have made this an exceptional performance. The new comer Rahul Khanna has a less complex role and does a wonderful job. Nandita Das in luminous, vulnerable, lovable. But the movie belongs to Maia Sethna - her Lenny is magical - child, adult, mixed-up, confused and every bit of it excellent.Earth tries but cannot achieve what Garam Hawa was able to do - it makes a statement of sorts but does not touch the emotions.

Aam Aadmi Having seen this few years ago, the first thought was what it had to do with the India-Pakistan partition in 1947. The film neither shed light on the actual circumstances involved nor addressed the social, economic or political ramifications of the massive uprooting of Northwest India into two separate nations.The partition was not about one family, it was about thousands. Nothing in the movie even tries to address this basic fact. Unknown multitudes were left behind. Many lost everything in the shuffle. The politics of why it happened has been brushed aside as inconsequential, when that in fact is why the *historical account* is so riveting. Six decades later, the two countries are still divided over those political and religious issues, ready to go to war at a moment's notice. That this needed to be pointed out shows how out-of-context the movie really is. And then she goes and calls it 'Earth'! Get off your high horse, woman.Mehta is a film-maker who makes stuff for Western consumption. That is fine but she should refrain from taking liberties with Indian/Pakistani audiences who went through the "horror-show" and survived to tell their stories. Mehta should have watched the Hindi TV serial Buniyaad to get SOME clue. Useless side elements filled up the lack of narrative in the film. The characters are totally unempathic and one fails to connect to anyone except the little girl. And what can one say about the direction or technical side of Mehta's "human-interest piece"? Not much.And if this really was Lenny's story, why muddle it all up with a hare-brained depiction of such a monumental calamity??? If you can only deal with a serious subject with the passing curiosity of an outsider, and have no maturity or emotional depth when interpreting its impact on an entire sub-continent, WHY BOTHER TO DELVE INTO IT AT ALL??

Cyberjunkie In 1947, after centuries of colonial rule and 89 years of the British Raj, the Indian subcontinent was finally given long overdue independence. The quest for independence, as lead most famously by Mahatma Ghandi, gave rise to the issue of how to grant it. In the end, sectarian agitations led to the bloody partitioning of India. From British India emerged the Hindu majority India and the Muslim majority Pakistan, accompanied by massacres, riots and "the largest, most terrible exchange of population known to history." It is during this most horrific of schisms that "Earth", directed and part-written by Deepa Mehta, takes place. "Earth" is set in the large cosmopolitan city of Lahore, as it transfers from Indian to Pakistani rule, and is shown from the perspective of a young, lame Parsee girl, called Lenny (Maia Sethna), and her group of friends. This group is a relative microcosm of Indian society, with Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Parsees all represented. As the film progresses, Mehta uses the tensions that surface and eventually destroy the group as a parallel to the hostilities of the Partition.As Parsees, India's "invisible" people, Lenny's wealthy family is supposedly sheltered from the growing conflict by an ever-fragile 'neutrality'. Lenny's naïvety is used quite effectively to endear her to the viewer. Her innocence makes the tragedy of Partition even more profound. The events occurring are incomprehensible to Lenny; her naïvety is best illustrated in the opening scene, in which she breaks a plate and, utterly perplexed, enquires "Can one break a country?" The story, though narrated by Lenny at beginning and end, does not always seem to be from her viewpoint and one doubts if she could accurately be described as the protagonist.Lenny's Hindu ayah, or nanny, appears to be more of a focus. Shanta (Nandita Das) is beautiful, and is surrounded by a circle of male admirers, and, in particular, two Muslims suitors who vie for her affection. One is the poetic Dil Navaz (Aamir Khan), or as Lenny calls him, Ice Candy Man, and the other is a masseuse, Hassan (Rahul Khanna). Although it initially seems that it is with Dil Navaz that her affections lie, Hassan proves to be her true love, much to the surprise of the viewer. Whilst it is never really shown why Dil Navaz's courtship fails, the viewer could infer that it he lacked a certain gentlemanliness and that he possessed a certain darkness. What is clear is the love that Hassan has for Shanta; a love that is realised in a beautifully handled love-scene. Shanta is a woman for which he would convert to Hinduism and risk his life.Mehta does not shy away from depicting the savagery of the conflict and the film possesses some extremely powerful moments. One in particular is the debilitating and horrifically gruesome 'de-limbing' of a man caught in the fury of a mob. Another, arguably most powerful, scene is the discovery of a trainload of massacre victims by Dil Navaz, among them his sisters, and sacks of severed breasts. The climax of the movie is a devastating illustration of the consequences of unrequited love. In the scene, we see the supposed protection of the Parsees crumble as an enraged Muslim mob arrives seeking Hindus and Sikhs. Shanta, a Hindu, is hidden in the house, as the mob questions workers who have converted from Hindu and Sikh to Muslim and Christian and then demands Shanta. Dil Navaz, played deftly by Aamir Khan, appears from the crowd, and appearing a "hero", deceives Lenny into revealing Shanta's whereabouts who is then dragged away screaming, and presumably murdered.Based on the novel "Cracking India", by Bapsi Sidhwa (who co-adapted the script), the film translate to screen in a rich, flowing melodrama. It is strong in symbolism and the obvious motif of 'breaking' (plates, persons, dolls and relationships) works to keep the Partition in frame-of-mind. Mehta has created a sensual piece of dazzling colours that correspond with the moment in time – in the first half it is joyful and organic, in the second it is dark and ominous. The accompanying soundtrack, by A.R. Rahman, is effective and appropriate. However, the film sits awkwardly betwixt the style of 'Bollywood' and that of Hollywood. It has, one could argue, obviously been made with a Western audience in mind, and consequently, does not set to be historically informative. Nevertheless, it is an effective piece that does not befuddle the viewer, and provides insight into how people were directly affected by the Partition, an event that still reverberates today.(S. R. Watson, Flinders University, Adelaide)

Abhishek Saha Earth is one of those movies that, despite not being a masterpiece, still manages to 'affect' you in a deep, almost undefinable way. There is something harrowingly beautiful about this intense story of love and betrayal set in the backdrop of the partition of India.Based on Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, 'Cracking India', Earth tells the story of the partitioning of India seen through the eyes of a eight year old girl. Yet Earth is best viewed not as a historical drama, nor a political fable. Certainly the historical elements are there-the communal violence, the British snobbery, the flight across the border for the millions who were rendered homeless by the events of 1947. But above and beyond that Earth is a story about love and the destruction of innocence. Too many movies that depict historical events either err on the side of showing too much historical detail or relegate the history to a mere footnote. Earth steers clear of being a movie about the events of partition; rather, by concentrating on its effects upon a small group of friends and how it affects their friendships and relationships, it shows the soul of partition.Earth is shattering, stunning...and eerily beautiful. There are jarring moments, like ones that stretch symbolisms too far, yet they pale in comparison to the beauty that Deepa Mehta portrays.Earth takes you on a ride of tenderness, poignancy, shock and ultimately leaves you with a feeling of numbness. The climax, especially, contains an emotional punch as powerful as any I have witnessed. All the actors give excellent performances, especially Aamir Khan, the 'ice-candy man', who is astonishing in the last scene. And the music by A.R. Rehman is wonderful, even by his lofty standards.