Devi is one of those that reaches out through the screen and smacks you in the face hard. It forces you to question your beliefs on religion and the supernatural, without giving any answers of its own. The premise is simple yet intriguingly complex at the same time - an old devout religious man deems his young daughter-in-law to be an incarnation of a goddess and begins worshiping her. The movie follows by describing the opposing reactions of the various family members including delving into the inner turmoil the protagonist herself goes through. The biggest strength of the movie is that refuses to preach a solution or depict an objective truth. When you are dealing with religious faith and mysticism there is no objective truth...the truth is simply what you believe in...hence the movie forces you to question for yourself what do you believe in? There is no denying that Satyajit Ray is a master at capturing emotions and relations on film without dramatizing the moment, relying on silence and subtlety to convey the message. A dialog in the film by the protagonist epitomizes the essence of the movie - "I don't think I am a goddess...but what if I am?" Watch this movie to answer the question for yourself...not simply for mythical elements but for all answers that we humans have not yet found the answer to..
Review of The Goddess
