The Journey (2004)

Two young girls who have fallen in love find their budding romance threatened by the prospect of an arranged marriage in director Ligy J. Pullappally's bold look at lesbianism in the Indian culture. Kieran and Delilah are best friends, but despite their deepening affection for one another tradition still dictates that the young woman of their village must marry the man chosen for them by their parents. Though Kieran does her best to refrain herself from declaring her love for Delilah and acting on her romantic impulses, Delilah's discovery of her best friend's true feelings leads to a forbidden romance that will leave both women forever transformed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Theatrical Feature Running Time: 107 mins
The Journey (2004)

A poorly acted film although the story-line is good and is an important message. I miss-read the ending of the film that it does not resolve whether the one girl (Kieran) decides to kill herself-including the fact that Delilah calls out during her wedding to her friend. But the last scene of Kieran is where she walks supposedly down the side of the hill along the falls. She accepts herself as the director explains it, but the director did not explain the reason for throwing the hair into the water. And how Kieran brought the scissors with her.

The directors commentary, which had a distracting buzzing sound during the sound track without the normal background from the film, is based on a true event in her homeland. She notes that there is a significant level of suicide of gays and lesbians. I also note that there is almost an epidemic of farmers that also commit suicide lately.

While it is a tragedy this type of authoritarianism on individuals in a society, we did not see the police state interfering in the young woman's lives or even in the society as a whole. This contrasts with The Circle, where every aspect of the ladies lives were controlled by society and men but more importantly by men in uniforms. "Without a man, you can't go anywhere." We can also note this same pattern in Iran in the film Offside.

The soundtrack also lacks the normal background sounds and music that most modern films have, which seems odd by my tastes. I did like the dance sequences although too short and compared to most Indian films, extremely short.

The director used many Christian images, including offering of the grapes (apple) one girl offers to the other. And the cemetery had Christian Crosses on all the graves.

Canaanite religion