Search - The Warrior on DVD

A superlative film of great emotional depth

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 07/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

A movie about violence, not action

H3-D Technology | London, UK | 10/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Worth a look...

Nothing new | United States | 05/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Scenic masterpiece

G. Sulier | San Francisco, CA USA | 12/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."