Customer Reviews

The Warrior

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The marketing of this movie is the latest shining example of Hollywood's narrow-minded marketing execs bungling an opportunity. Because it didn't fit into any of their simplistic demographic segments, they threw it in the action category simply because the cover and the opening sequence demonstrates a man swinging a talwar. It's a bit like "Saw" being classified as a power tool instructional video.

Let's get this out of the way now: This is not an action movie. If you rent this looking for swashbuckling you will be sorely disappointed.

Now on to what the movie is really about:

The movie is the physical and emotional journey of a man's conscience from court executioner to pacifist. It follows the story of the king's executioner. While leading a death squad on a rampage through a village, he has an epiphany, and decides to never lift a sword again.

While it is not an action movie, it is about violence and its consequences. As he tries to make amends and become a better person, the ramifications of his past follow the warrior in his wake, becoming the main villain of the story.

The movie was filmed on location in Northern India, and the backdrops are breathtaking. Most of the cast are non-actors (hence the intentional lack of scripted dialogue), but the cast are able to convey so much without a single word, especially the warrior himself. In recent cinema, only Viggo Mortensen in "A History of Violence" was able to communicate such a complex emotional transformation with just a single look.

It all makes for a highly moving parable about redemption. And this is a movie I would recommend especially for war veterans or retired soldiers.

The Warrior is a subtly powerful, beautifully shot movie that carries with it a rare quality of importance. It's a deep, conflicting story that plays strangely on the emotions, relies on disarmingly sparse dialogue, and leaves an indelible impression on the viewer. It garnered a number of nominations and awards, including the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (the film's director/co-writer, Asif Kapadia, is British, as were several others involved in the production), even though it was denied Oscar consideration as the British entry for best foreign language film because it was in the non-English language of Hindi. Since it is in Hindi, you can expect to depend on subtitles - but the poignancy and real depth of the story is really revealed through the faces of the actors and actresses.

The Warrior is the story of Lafcadia (Irfan Khan), a warrior in feudal India who, in something of a spiritual moment, lays down his sword and swears to never kill again. Hurrying home, he cuts his hair and that of his son and sets off on a journey "home" to the mountains. His feudal lord, naturally, disapproves of any man leaving his service and demands his head by the next morning. This leads to a momentous turning point I found quite shocking. It's a little hard to sympathize with a man who has the blood of countless men, women, and children (most of them guilty of nothing other than poverty) on his hands, but the tragic events that quickly play out really connect you to this man on an emotional level as he begins his trek from the deserts of Rajasthan to the snowbound Himalayas. Along the way, he meets a young thief named Riaz (Noor Mani), who follows and eventually taps into his shell-shocked character, and an old blind woman who easily picks up on the life he is trying to put behind him.

Lafcadia's journey is a spiritual quest of sorts, an attempt to put his murderous past and emotional trauma behind him and find some sort of peace with himself. A warrior's past proves difficult to dispose of, however, as the men who were his fellow warriors continue to pursue him, cutting a bloody swath through several villages along the way toward an inevitable confrontation.

I'm afraid some individuals will see the title and expect a film full of great battles and heroic deeds. While there are a few moments of violence and bloodshed on display here, the film is actually a slow-moving, poignant drama that action-seekers may well consider boring. A lot of The Warrior involves a man walking, several minutes can pass without a word of dialogue being spoken, and the ending may not fully click for those who don't make a necessary connection with an earlier moment in the film. I think The Warrior is a fantastic film that succeeds on a most challenging level, thanks in no small part to the deeply impressive performance of Irfan Khan, which means I apparently agree with movie critics for once.

I picked this up at blockbuster b/c I thought it was going to be a samurai flick with action. There is NO samurai action, nor is hardly any fighting sequences. The back of the box says there is both! Yet, I still greatly enjoyed this movie. This movie is a drama about a man who worked for a "Lord" who ruled their country. After encountering an experience with a girl who by chance had crossed paths with his little boy, he experiences an epiphany. The story then ends with the struggles to remove himself peacefully (both physically and mentally) from his previous violent past. A very good plot, with powerful moments expressed via few words.

Subtitles for those who don't like subtitles and at several points in the movie the viewer is required to interpret what the actor is thinking.

The subtitles are not annoying as the film's dialogue doesn't drive the plot. The 'action' is self-explanatory for the most part. Beautifully filmed and unexpectedly subtle story line given the action-oriented title. Really enjoyed this film.

I happened to catch this movie on tv just looking for something to watch. The name "Warrior" caught my eye. It wasn't what I expected. The warrior turns out to be more of a killer or assasin. The story is of a man that kills for a rich lord. The lord has power over who lives and dies. A village does not give enough to suit the lord so he sends the "warrior"along with the other killers to teach a lesson by burning and killing and raping. While in the village he almost kills a young girl until he sees a necklace that belonged to his son on the girl. He knows that his son must have given it to the girl and so he drops his sword. This was enough to make him realize that killing innocent people is wrong. He rides off leaving the other warriors in the village. From then on he is on the run to escape his past. He meets many people on the journey and how he interacts with them is quite interesting and compeling. You can't miss any of the movie because there are things along the way that will have meaning later on in the story.The journey is from the desert to the Himalayas and the cinematography is excellent. Acting is very good. Not a lot of dialog. The audience is required to piece together much of the story. It is subtitled but is easily read. The words are put in the outside of the letterbox against a black background. The story could be found to be boring to some. It is not your action type movie. There is plenty of emotional and shoking scenes. I enjoyed it very much. It won a number of awards. I believe he finds what he is looking for this "Warrior". You will have to watch for yourself. I recommend it highly. BTW I bought the dvd

This is a movie which I felt had ample room to be developed into something special, and yet let that chance slip away. It appears that those tasked with writing the Product Description were likewise challenged - just because you (incorrectly) describe a movie as having "exciting samurai-style action sequences" doesn't automatically make it an "epic." It's as if the authors for the DVD cover description did a cut-n-paste of their description for `Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' figuring no one would notice. That's not to say that this movie isn't worth watching, but this film is more properly labeled drama.

The storyline centers on the protagonist, Lafacadia, who is self described as a "warrior" but is perhaps better understood as the enforcer and "muscle" for a local feudal lord. He attends his lord as subjects present themselves to pay tribute. The envoy for one village reports the village cannot pay their tax, as their crops were lost when the monsoon rains didn't come. This was not the first time for this village, so Lafacadia is ordered to teach the villlage a lesson. He dispatches the envoy with his sword, and then rides with his fellow warriors to the village to wreak havoc. During the raid, he notices a young girl crying in terror, who causes him to think of his own son. He drops his sword on the spot and renouces violence, driving away his fellow warriors and saving the remainder of the village. Returning home, he gathers up his son and return to his home village in the mountains. His fellow warriors report his actions back to his lord, who puts a price on Lafacadia's head. His son is unable to escape and is killed, but Lafacadia does get away (barely). He then departs on a quest to return to his home village, pursued by his fellow warriors. The remainder of the film tracks Lafacadia on his journey. Along the way, he is followed by a orphaned boy who has turned to thievery to survive. For part of the journey, they are also joined by an older, blind mystic woman who is journeying to a holy lake.

Unfortunately, the outsider nature of characters presented in the film prevent the viewer from being draw into the film. The film never really takes the time to describe the motivations for the characters, such as why Lafacadia would decide to trek back to his home village in the first place after his epiphany. Also unanswered are why some of its improbable plot twists occur, and much of the movie lurches on with no apparent rhyme or reason to why things occur the way they do. For example, why would his fellow warriors track him hundreds of miles into the mountains, and destroy a random village later to be stumbled upon by Lafacadia? When he is shown reaching his destination, what significance is finding there the mother of the girl from the original village raid? One gets the impression that the screenplay writer, after coming up with the premise, struggled to develop a movie to fully exploit it. It's like the tour guide got lost midway through and is trying to pass off where we ended up as the intended destination. Not an unpleasant trip, but somewhat frustrating.

The movie is only 87 minutes long. The story is choppy because of deleted scenes. Included in the DVD are the director's deleted scenes. You wonder why these scenes were deleted. They would have made for a better story. The cover picture on the DVD box is a hoax. It gives the impression of an action movie. Not true. The main character spends most of his time wondering around the countryside trying to find himself. There is very little dialogue and very little action in this movie. I found the story to be boring.

The other reviews, both good and bad, tell what to expect and not expect here. The movie Asoka is what I had hoped this movie would be.

I teach a course at my University about films that either promote peace or have a peaceful subject, and this film is ideal. The "warrior" is a man who works for a local lord, raping, killing, and pillaging those who don't or can't pay the lord tribute. It's a little like a Mafia protection racket set in 18th century India. The film never directly shows the blood-spattering violence, but there's enough footage to fuel the imagination. Early on in a moment of extraordinary insight the hero vows never to lift another sword. However, the lord has other ideas and sends the same killers after him that he had previously led. One of the beauties of the film is the way the hero deals with these deadly assassins without resorting to violence. After the initial incidents, the movie turns into a road trip, with the hero encountering many fascinating characters and adventures along the way, but the action is never superficial or unnecessary. The characterization is wonderful, and the director uses a real blind woman to play a sort of blind sage whom the hero meets in his travels and wants to protect. The filmmakers have generously supplied one of the best Special Feature presentations of any DVD I've watched, which lays out in detail how it was made and is as enjoyable as the film itself. The stories about the blind woman and the street kid hired to act in the film are really touching. Highly recommended.

One of the very best movies from an unknown to most director Asif Kapadia, and even a less known actor Irfan Khan.

The story in short shows how an executioner of the king turns around to be a shepherd of sheeps at the footsteps of the great mount Himalaya, after he has experienced a soul transformation from that of a fearless warrior to that of a broken man.

The story unfolds in a very accurate script as the time of the events occur (check the warrior's armor, my lucky guess is that he took it from a fallen crusader !!) so the story takes place mainly in a muslim world, and way of exercising justice (the king is beheading the farmer because of a poor crop)

Irfan Khan gives a noble battle, and he intends to win it no matter what the cost is, even that of the tragic loss of his only one son.

An example of the nobility of people in arms in a very rough world even that of a muslim. I recommend this film, as a character guide for a better understanding why the Crusaders lost their fight in their war-quest for the Holy city.

P.M.

Athens