Rating: 
Summary: a very good movie
Review: I would recommed this movie- a touching film of two sister-in-laws both trapped in loveless marriages and discover a growing love and affection for each as they discover a passion for life. A wonderful film.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: Although this film, like any other groundbreaking movie, does not give a perfectly complete picture of the story or character development, Mehta still has done an excellent job. She has approached the topic of a love that extends between all boundaries of society, gender, etiquette within a paradoxical culture that celebrates and worships the sacrad power of women and love, yet contradicts these very concepts as well. Granted, this film, I believe, would appeal much more to audience with some awareness of current Indian or diasporic Indian culture, it nonetheless, is a wonderful film for a diverse audience.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE,BEAUTIFULLY SET, VIVID, PROCATIVE,
Review: a TRIBUTE TO LESBIAN FILM AS WELLAS INDIAN FILM AND WOMENS' FILM WORK. SAW MOVIE AT THE QUAD CINEMA IN NEW YORK CITY. THE COLOR, SOUND OF THE MOVIE AND SCENERY WAS GORGEOUS. WELL DONE. ALSO A TRIBUTE TO FILMS ABOUT PEOPLE OF COLOR. WE NEED MORE FROM YOU AMZI!.
Rating: 
Summary: A ground breaking film about Women who fall in love in India
Review: Fire is the first film from India that confronts the oppression of women in a unique fashion. Two women are drawn to each other as the result of the pervasive unhappiness the confronts them in a culture that has a separate caste system imposed by men. Neither husband pursues intimacy with their perspecitve wives. As a result both women are drawn together. This is a film that lesbians and hetorosexuals will find appealing. Fire is a fine example of art as a medium that addresses poliltical, philosopical and moral issues about life. I found it to be enlightening and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Bollywood shocker
Review: This is not your grandmother's old Rishi Kapoor or Hema Malini movie, where kissing was taboo, and romance was limited to making goo-goo eyes and performing elaborately choreographed dances in the mountains.
By Hollywood standards, this is an intriguing movie, where two women rebel against their traditional roles, and turn to each other for love, respect and sexual gratification.
By Bollywood standards however, this shocker has committed several major offenses, the least of which are the on-screen love scenes between two women. The issues that shocked the traditionalists to the bone are that firstly, the women are Hindus, secondly the movie challenges the very core of male dominance, and thirdly, that women have the right to be independent and happy in their marital relationships.
Radha (Shabana Azmi) is married to Ashok (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and has been unable to fulfill his desire for a child. Ashok has been consulting a Swami, and in the belief that desire is the root of all evil, keeps her close to him without intimacy so that he will become a better person.
Sita (Nandita Das) is a young bride with a longing for love and adventure, married to Jatin (Javed Jaffrey) who is unwilling to provide her with either, because he is in love with someone else. Their marriage is a sham, as Jatin only married to please Ashok and his grandmother Biji.
As per custom, the whole extended family lives under one roof, and their unhappy marriages draw Sita and Radha together. Sita turns out to be the one who inspires the break with tradition, and finds a willing convert in Radha.
Director Deepa Mehta handles this controversial movie tastefully and tenderly, the romance balanced by traditional family values and the comedic activities of the servant Mundu (Ranjit Chowdhry, a Mehta regular). Shabana Azmi is perfect as the more mature woman, but Nandita Das sparkles as the enlightened abandoned bride.
My only regret is that the DVD version lacks subtitles, as even though the actors all speak English, their accents and Hindi references are sometimes difficult to catch.
A beautiful and powerful movie, but not your usual Bollywood fare.
Amanda Richards, December 27, 2004
Rating:
Summary: Lesbian love-story ?
Review: This movie is more than a run of the mill lesbian love-story ... It truly shows the complexity of life that people aren't aware of ( unless they live in India ) . It takes a movie like this one to show that women aren't just for baby making , cooks and be housewives in general . But someone that can be desired, love and respected .
Azmi ( Radha ) played a housewife that couldn't have children . And according to their teachings that sex is only for procreation and nothing more . Radha's husband uses the opportunity and took a vow of celibacy ( since there's no point of having sex )and have her just lie beside him to make sure that he has no desire for Radha. ( Since the teachings said , desire is the root of all evil ).
Das ( Sita ) played Azmi's sister-in-law that has a husband that only married her because it was his duty to the family to bear children that can carry on the family name, since Radha could not have any . Although Sita's marriage is loveless since her husband is in-love with a Chinese woman .
Radha and Sita's unhappiness was cut short when they found the courage to break-out from the bindings of their duty to their husbands to the arms of one another where they found desire, love and support .
Rating:
Summary: Loved this film!
Review: Even though this film is a lesbian love story-it really stems from oppression, being viewed as merely a wife, to please men, cook, and procreate. I loved the symbolism, the characters, and the acting. I thought it was very sexy, passionate, and beautiful. The main characters were very well developed. This movie was banned in India, and many people protested it due to it's content. I highly recommend this film.
Rating: 
Summary: On Fire
Review: Deepa Mehta did a great job with this film. I love the mood and provocative subject matter. Excellent film.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking and gentle: so why the violent response??
Review: Another reminder that here in the US we can take so much for granted. And that we need to show strong support to our sisters in other countries. "Fire" isn't about lesbianism--it's about the spirit's response to coldness and inconsideration: warmth and love seek a responsive hug. Man or woman, it doesn't matter.
Except in India it matters. The "rules" are different for men and women. "Fire" is beautiful, expressive, yet, sadly,unprovacative: surely "modern India" should be beyond all of this. I applaud Deepa Mehta and the fine actors who supported her script. May their efforts to awaken a "sleeping" India be rewarded by more than the respect of admirers such as I.
Rating:
Summary: Fire lit up my evening
Review: This film was really quite good, but there were a few things that made this film far from perfect. While the content and message of the film was powerful, I didn't really feel comfortable with the lesbianism that took place between Rhada and Sita. Their physical exchange didn't seem authentic. They seemed to turn to each other because they longed for touch, a touch that might have been satisfied if their husbands had truly cared for them both emotionally and physically. Furthermore, I didn't like how the film seemed to portray lesbianism as the outcome of two women caring for each other. This is not always the case. Female friendship doesn't have an inherent element of lesbianism. In addition, I didn't particularly care for the cinematography. I found it to be a bit static, and unpoetic, whatever that means.On the other hand, this movie was very powerful due to the idea that women can imagine something different for themselves, despite traditional structures that are oppressive, and despite what some might consider the insidious influences of patriarchy. This is why the film constantly returns to Rhada's attempt to envisage the ocean. So long as she can't imagine the ocean, she can't imagine a situation different for herself. The most powerful scene in this film was when Rhada declared that she "desires to live." Similarly, Sita seems to imagine something different for herself when she dresses in Jhatin's clothes. Wearing his clothes seem to empower her in a way that wearing her sari does not. While some might tout this end of this film as a triumph for Western values, I really think this film took the approach of Third World feminism, that there are other ways to create a woman friendly situation.
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