Monday, July 17, 2017

AMU

AMU
Released: January 7, 2005
Director & Writer: Shonali Bose
Main Actress: Konkona Sen Sharma
Lal's Rating: 4/5

An interesting movie, especially interesting I would imagine to the Indians who have not grown up in India.  As the main character, Amu is also an indian, who grew up in California.  She has come to India in search of her identity, and her history.  She is searching for a piece of her that she knows and feels in her heart is missing. 

What Amu finds is more than heart wrenching.  If you don't want me to spoil it for you, then please stop reading now and know that its a movie definitely worth watching.  It has a bitter sweet ending, but one that does not make the audience sad, or forlorn. 

************SPOILER ALERT**************

Amu ends up finding out that her adoptive parents were keeping a secret from her.  Her adopted mother knew her real mother.  Her real mother was a Sikh, whose family was destroyed in the Delhi Riots of 1984.  Her mother lost her husband, and watched as Hindus from the surrounding area beat him to death.  She went to the police, who ignored her.  Her son, not even 2 years old was burnt to death, as their home caught on fire.  Amu escaped the home, as she went looking for her mother, but she was too young to understand and she left her little brother in the home.  Amu and her mother had to move back into the same home where her brother was burnt to death. 
Amu's mother eventually committed suicide and left Amu's adoptive mother a note, asking her not to tell Amu the real story of her mother and her family. 
But, Alas! Amu came to India in search of the truth and came so very close to it.  Her adoptive mother eventually ended up telling her the truth at the end of the story. 
Horrible, and heart wrenching, yet it captures the truth of the 1984 Riots
 and all of its atrocities. 

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