Earth is the second part of Deepa Mehta's Elements trilogy, preceded by Fire (1996) and followed by Water (2005).

Opening in Lahore in 1947, it follows the effects of the partition of India and Pakistan after Britain's overly hasty and irresponsible withdrawal from India after having declared its independence. Earth is much more politically focused than Fire and yet, unfortunately, does not have the same strength in its recreation of situations or character development.

Nonetheless, it is an interesting film which attempts to portray such a difficult historical period which shaped the future of both India and Pakistan and which, amongst many other events, the not-so-distant 1992 riots and 1993 bombings in Bombay (now Mumbai), show that neither has yet recovered from.

Once again Mehta uses a local setting as a mirror of the wider political and social context. Earth follows a group of friends, and the eight-year-old girl Lenny, living in Lahore whose strong friendship has developed without need for religious branding and yet without denying difference. Amidst the group are Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsees and Christians. The effect of the political climate slowly erodes and questions their friendship and we see how they are forced into, often brutal, conflict with one another.

It is a film about how imposed political decisions can tear apart communities which had reached their own internal balance and, following a group of individuals, it chronicles one of the scars of India and Pakistan's history.