Heaven On Earth
Directed by Deepa Mehta
By Will Sloan

In the opening scenes of Heaven on Earth, we learn that Chand (Preity Zinta), a young Indian woman, will move to Canada for an arranged marriage. Because all of the characters are dressed in traditional Indian clothing and because the concept of an arranged marriage is so anachronistic to the average western filmgoer, these scenes look and feel like part of a period piece.

Immediately after, we see Chand applying make-up in a modern airplane bathroom and the contrast is jarring. In films like Water, Deepa Mehta has often contrasted the role of Indian women in modern society with their role in the traditional cultural family unit to devastating effect. And with Heaven on Earth, she has made one of her most powerful films.

Arriving in Canada, Chand finds that her husband is depressive and irritable, and physically abuses her without provocation. When she mentions his beatings to a co-worker, she is told to grind a particular root into his drink, which will supposedly make him love her forever but eventually proves to have unforeseen consequences. Mehta directs with supreme confidence and is unblinking in her depiction of domestic abuse — the violent scenes are harsh and startling, filmed by Mehta with unsettling intimacy.

Heaven on Earth is more than just a film about the traditional Indian family. Mehta’s film is a frankly nightmarish portrait of cultural displacement. Chand, whose grasp of the English language is modest and whose understanding of Canadian society is even more negligible, is symbolic of the very common existential crises of immigrants moving westward. She is stripped of power, treated as sub-human and unfamiliar with even the simplest customs of her new country.

Preity Zinta, a big star in India, specializes in seemingly dozens of fluffy Bollywood crowd-pleasers in which her chief tasks are to look pretty and lip-synch convincingly. Her performance here is a revelation, infusing her role with surprising depth and pathos. Vansh Bhardwaj is similarly impressive as Rocky, imposing and effective in a disturbing role.

Some reviewers have complained about Mehta’s decision to turn to the supernatural in the film’s second half but I disagree. This is one of the rare films that are completely unpredictable. (Mongrel Media)
Annotations of an Autopsy - The Reign of Darkness
Blessure Grave - Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Magnetic Fields / Laura Barrett
Hillside Inside Featuring Owen Pallett, Ani Di Franco, Basia Bulat, Bahamas, Hawksley Workman
The Golden Filter / LA Riots / Junior Boys
Hollerado - Record in a Bag
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Watson Twins - Talking To You, Talking To Me
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen / Love Bites / A Different Kind Of Tension
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde
Steve Kaldestad - Blow-Up
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May
Gil Scott-Heron - I’m New Here
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Janine Stoll - Melancholia
Stygian - Fury Rising
Shining - VI — Klagopsalmer
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered
Troll - Neo-Satanic Supremacy
Meshuggah - Alive
Dark Fortress - Ylem
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Reckless Kelly - Somewhere In Time
Arsis - Starve For The Devil
DevilDriver / Suffocation / Thy Will Be Done / Goatwhore
Asobi Seksu
James Blackshaw / Gary Higgins
Lil Wayne - Rebirth
Light This City - The Hero Cycle
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
Georgia Anne Muldrow - King’s Ballad
Droids Attack - Must Destroy
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Ellen Allien / Various - Watergate O5
Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Skepsis
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool
Pawel - Pawel
Children Of Celebrities - Stereo Bang Bang
Midlake - The Courage Of Others
Guns N’ Roses
Julie Doiron / Attack in Black
Tegan and Sara / An Horse
Nouvelle Vague
Arch Enemy / Exodus
Between the Buried and Me / Cynic / Devin Townsend Project / Scale the Summit
Fucked Up - Couple Tracks
Magnetic Fields - Realism
Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson
Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk
Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own
Ihsahn - After
Living Sacrifice - The Infinite Order
Ihsahn - After
Steve Earle / Joel Plaskett
Scuba / Various - Sub:Stance
Make Me Young - Make Me Young
Taking Dawn - Time To Burn
Postdata - Postdata
Woodhands - Remorsecapade
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Beach House - Teen Dream
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
Various - Born Again Funk
Wetdog - Frauhaus!
Coolzey - The Honey
Rel!G!Ion - Revelations 1
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Cars & Trains - The Roots, the Leaves
Morton Feldman / Milton Babbitt / Phoenix Ensemble - Clarinet Quintets
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