MONSOON WEDDING

This film was great! Despite the fact that it was culturally foreign to anything I was accustomed to, I had no difficulty at all understanding just about everything that was taking place. Monsoon Wedding is the story of an arranged Indian marriage within a traditional (seemingly well off) Indian family. Intially, the bride finds herself still in love with another man (whom i believe is married himself) and has doubts about going through with her own marriage. She ends up, however, giving her heart to her future husband and going through with the wedding.
There are several underlying stories within this film that enabled me to delve in and gain clear understanding. The family experienced real issues just as any other family would and these issues were clearly depicted. From the "help" (Alicia) falling in love with the last man on Earth one would think would give a woman his heart, down to the sexual abuse Ria had exprienced as a child thus fearing for the younger girls in her family who were beginning to experience the same thing. The chain of events were clear and easy to follow and the conflicts were not all dumped on the audience at once. They were presented in a very realistic and believable manner which allowed the audience to take its time understanding the film for everything it was saying.
One of my favorite aspects of this film was the rich and vivrant colors! There was even some attention drawn to the intentional use of these colors during the decorating for the wedding when the planner proceeds to put up a white tent. In American culture, this is the typical color for a wedding ceremony, representing purity and such. However, the father of the bride was insulted by this and demanded that the white be taken down immediatly and replaced with red. When he first made this request I frowned my face at the thought, however after it was complete I thought it was simply magnificent and stunning! Also, the color of the young girl who danced at the party's costumes was a vivrant bright pink, the bride wore red and various golds to get married in! It was exciting to look at! To think that this is a part of their customs and traditions was very informing and enlightening to say the least!
I enjoyed viewing this film a great deal and would recommend it to anyone!