Nearly one million Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs were slaughtered in multi-ethnic clashes when British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan in 1947, a colossal human tragedy that's reduced to a shattered dinner plate, among other clunky symbols, in Deepa Mehta's prettily vacuous Earth. The second in her proposed "trilogy of the elements," following the controversial lesbian romance Fire, Earth looks at the conflict from the vantage point of wealthy, politically neutral Parsis, but barely questions their privileged removal. If Earth is no Garden Of The Finzi-Continis, it's also no Forbidden Games, offering a mawkish glimpse at childhood innocence in the face of war. Told through the eyes of a precocious, polio-stricken Parsee girl (Maaia Sethna) in Lahore, the story focuses on her beautiful Hindu nanny (Fire's Nandita Das) and the young men who compete for her affections—one a Pakistani Muslim, the other an Indian Hindu. Their pleasant afternoons in the lush greenery of nearby Queens Gardens are interrupted when ethnic tensions in the city erupt into violent conflict. The divisions within India are so explicitly represented by the characters that their every word and gesture—and in Sethna's case, physical ailment—fits squarely into Mehta's obvious political allegory. While the director doesn't shy away from shocking brutality, her saturated colors and golden shafts of light apply a warm, sensual gloss that diminishes the tragedy's impact. Given the renewed skirmishes between India and Pakistan over border territory, Earth is a missed opportunity to explore their origin, more reassuring and nostalgic than socially relevant.