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Review

Chicago filmmaker Ligy J. Pullappally's The Journey might be considered the teen prequel to Deepa Mehta's 1996 film Fire. Deep in rural Kerala, India, Kiran finds herself attracted to her neighbor and childhood friend Delilah, and her feelings are reciprocated as the girls near their high-school graduation after Kiran reveals that she is the true author of love letters sent to Delilah by Rajan, a male classmate. When the schoolteacher discovers the girls' relationship, she opts not to tell their parents, but when Rajan sees Kiran and Delilah kissing, he goes straight to Delilah's mother, who arranges a hasty marriage to a handsome medical student and locks Delilah in her room until the ceremony. Receiving no support from her parents, Kiran enlists an uncle to help and asks Delilah to choose. Delilah continues to vacillate, and Kiran must decide on her own future. (Malayalam with English subtitles)

 -- Judith Redding