Guerrilla

It has been 40 years. Why should you stick with that past? I wont get passed in my exam or get the order from the foreign company if those old war criminals get punished. When there was a hint of forgetting the history of Liberation war 1971 then came an outstanding movie named "Guerilla". I don't want to call it just a movie. Its just like a proof of the sacrifice made by the people of Bangldesh in 1971 liberation war. Lets go through the story. Bilkis Banu (Joya Ahsan) is a regular woman in 1971. But her life changed when her husband Hasan (Ferdous) lost from 25th march. Then she joined the war as a freedom fighter. Fund collection, weapon supply or sending music spools etc were mainly her responsibilities. Once she went to an aristocratic party as disguise and planted a bomb there. Everything was going according to the plan but once a freedom fighter was tortured so brutally that he had to confess all his helping hands names. Bilkis ran away from Dhaka to her father's place leaving her in laws. But Bangladesh is now a war country. Train stops due the breakdown of bridge front ahead. Bilkis started walking. She stumbles due to heap of dead bodies. Corpse are floating in the rivers. The war criminal RAZAKARs are burning all the villages. The RAZAKARs are taking all the women from the houses to keep the army people satisfied! A freedom fighter named Shiraj helped bilkis on the way. Her brother Khokon is also a freedom fighter. Khokon Commander was just making the life of Pakistan Army hell. But he was caught with the help of the Razakars and also brutally murdered by them. Then finally Bilkis was also caught while searching the dead body of her brother. But the pakistani captain Shamsad didn't know that the grenade on his table will cause the day his last day on earth.

As I have said before this movie is a complete movie depicting liberation war of 1971. The brutality of the war is totally unveiled in this movie. The first part of the movie tells the story of city based war and later half depicts the village based war. In every section the viewers had to ponder about the amount of help done by the traitor Razakars during the war. The viewers certainly would say: "Are these human??". There are same real characters like Altaf Mahmud ( Ahmed Rubel), Rumy, Bodi are in the film. Everyone did an outstanding job. As they had fire in their eyes the reveal the true history of 1971 war of Bangldesh. The brother in law of Bilkis, TASLIM Sardar's ( A.T.M. Shamsuzzaman) character was worth praise. All the characters of traitors are portrayed so well that everyone would want to spit on their face after watching.

Joya Ahsan did an absolutely splendid job. She proves again that she is the best actress of Bangladesh. Shatabdi Wadud was also marvelous. The making of the movie is just amazing. Its possible to make a movie about 1971 but not making the environment of 1971. The freedom fighter director Nasir Uddin Yousuff made that possible. From the Pakistan railways to green villages of Bangladesh. Everything was excellent. There are two antagonist role acted by Shatabdi Wadud. The characters could have been done by different person but this might be done intentionally to describe that the faces of all pak army of 1971 were same.

There are plenty scenes of violent brutality are shown in the film. Some scenes really make people to move on. Such scenes like when Altaf Mahmud said: "I am Altaf Mahmud".When the Milk boy Naren saying: "Where would I go leaving this country?" everyone had tears on their eyes.

I would say a little about the negative sides of this movie. The editing on the first half is not that good. Some scenes are very much confusing due to the fast pace. Backgound score should have been better.

No doubt its the movie of every people of Bangladesh. Everyone of Bangldesh should watch this film at least once to know more about the liberation war. We would hope more movies to come like this one to make our heart cry for the martyrs of 1971 and not to forget their sacrifice.

Guerrilla is a movie about the Independence war of Bangladesh in the year 1971. At that time, Bangladesh was a eastern state of Pakistan (called East Pakistan), and the central government was formed in the now Pakistan state (West Pakistan). This war was spanned over 9 months, from March 26th to December 16th. The movie is based on the lives of civil people of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, who stood against the Pakistan Army and fought in the guerrilla format.

As far as the script goes, it is based on a novel "Nishiddho Loban" (The Forbidden Scarf) by Syed Shamsul Haque, and also based upon real-life events from several freedom fighters. The director himself was an active member of the guerrilla group.

The most striking thing about this movie to me was the interpretation of the struggle and sufferings to a personal level. War is bad and we all know the statistics of the genocide. But these are not merely numbers, but actual people who fought and bled as the nation rises from the ashes of their sacrifice. The severity of the genocide, the rapes, the tortures were very graphic in the movie, and probably not suitable for a young audience.

On the brighter side, it was a movie well-written, the portrayals of the character Bilkis Banu, Altaf Mahmud, Capt. Sarfaraz Khan were very close to the actual truth. The cinematography was beautiful, considering the fact that it was a very low-budget movie.

It might not be outstanding in the standard of the international cinema, but as far as the cinema industry of Bangladesh goes, it was a remarkable work of art. No other movie based on the Independence war was so vivid in the portrayal of its terror and destruction.

The first thing is, making a movie on war is always a challenging work, and Nasir Uddin Usuf successfully done it. There are several movies on Liberation War of Bangladesh at 1971. But merely there are one or two of them to pass in terms of both critically and box office need. Aguner Poros Moni of Humayun Ahmed is one to remember, but it was much artistic representation on short platform, where the violence of war was absent. But Guerrilla made it to represent the agony and courage of Bengali to fight against the Pakistani. As Nasir Uddin Usuf was a freedom fighter and also a Guerrilla ,he had a clear conception on this.Also to remember he has worked in Theatre.Nisiddho Loban of Soiyad Samsul Haque is a novel holding the real truth of Liberation War.And the acting of Sotabdi Oadud and Joya Ahsan was exceptional.Though the first half was little quick, on a whole the urban and rural situation at that time was perfectly drawn. For the present and future generation Guerrilla will hold the flag of Liberation War and certainly going to be a landmark. The movie also carry the message how the bustards called Rajakar worked against the Liberation War.

I don't know about others, who wrote it is the best movie ever. I think they have not seen many many great movie was made in Bangladesh, Matir Moina, Aguner Poros Moni etc. It is a excellent movie no doubt. But dialog was poor also same goes to editing. Many characters are really useless, I think the producer is only took them to show their face on big screen. First half is good but in the second half it was going very very slow and we and The Paki's interrogation was boring. Same word every time, "when did you go to India." Don't think I am a Razakar. I love movies and always appreciate good effort. Thanks to the team for making this good movie and off course it was a great effort. Keep up with the good work.

While some (a very few) may find this movie bigoted enough to the Muslim community. They simply do not understand the social demography of 1971. They tend to forget that the Liberation War of Bangladesh was above race or creed. It was all about the independence of a deserving nation. It was fought by Muslims, Hindus, Christian, Buddhists, Natives you name it. Those who wanted the state of Pakistan to prevail merely used religion to seize their advantage. It's a shame that during the war a number of Imam (priest) and Moulanas (religious leaders) used Islam as a platform to commit atrocities which was colorfully depicted in this movie. But it is also a fact that many of them had fought along or collaborated with the freedom fighters which was not depicted. I can see why it is a little confusing for a few people. I am sure bigotry was not Mr. Yousuff's goal to achieve.

As far as the movie is concerned, it has it's faults. Such as the poor quality of CG or whatever they used to create explosions. The few combat scenes were uninspired and amateurish. With a more healthy budget, all of this could've been averted. The authenticity of sets, props, wardrobe and locations were merely satisfactory.

The major aspect mesmerizing the audience is acting. Joya Ahsan as the lead actress touched her full potential as well as the antagonist Mr. Wadud. A.T.M. Shamsuzzaman's dauntless characterization and gem of an acting was quite inspiring. The only disappointing thing was the abrupt ending. Without a concrete epilogue the movie pulled itself a little down of expectation.

Nonetheless, Guerrilla was refreshing, sometimes breathtaking and always moving. My only hope is that this movie will set an example so that the diminishing condition of Bangladeshi cinema could pick up itself from the abyss.