Moreover, there is a process through which many of these alternative accounts become written off as fiction or 'bad history' -- relegating and marginalizing relevant contributions of Partition experience and remembrance" (Barenscott 7). Mehta has said that her films are about the difference between conscience and faith. She insists that people have to listen to themselves and be honest with themselves and not accept intolerant ideologies that are at odds with a moral conscience and the realities of life. "Earth" is a perfect example of what she is saying. She had a story to tell that was important to her culture and her heritage and she felt that she needed to get it out -- not only because it was an event that had long been neglected, but just as Spielberg wanted to tell another story about the Holocaust despite the fact that there have been several films over the years on the subject. Mehta was able to make a film about an event that hadn't been covered in films and she was revolutionary in the sense that she told it in the bloodied and violent manner just like what occurred in real life.

Mamet said that the truth is something that we do not know until we encounter it and Mehta is making her art true in the film "Earth." The idea that the truth isn't important -- it is the recognition -- is an interesting concept and one that the major critics of "Earth" should take to heart. Whether or not Mehta's vision was badly done or melodramatic, it doesn't...

Whether or not that is what really happened or whether or not it should be viewed as an important reminder of history is not important; it is the fact that she has made the art. It is like Dylan standing on the stage and being called a Judas. Is he a Judas because he has made something that one man doesn't like? No, and he makes this very clear when he tells the band to play it "fucking loud." The problem is not within the music or the artist but within the individual who holds a solipsistic perspective of the world. Undoubtedly, that man doesn't just get angry by music, it probably is a general aspect of his life. He likes things the way he likes them and he doesn't want to hear what he doesn't like, but just because he doesn't like certain things doesn't mean that these things do not exist and do not have their own truth.
Works Cited

Barenscott, Dorothy. "This is our Holocaust: Deepa Mehta's Earth and the Question of Partition

Trauma." Mediascope, 2006. Accessed on February 14, 2011:

http://www.tft.ucla.edu/mediascape/Spring05_ScreenAngst.pdf

Phillips, Richard. "One of this century's human tragedies, as witnessed by a child." World

Socialist Website. Accessed on February 14, 2011:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/sff6-j21.shtml

White, Jerry. The Cinema of Canada (24 Frames). Wallflower Press, 2006.