Um Guerreiro Solitário

"Thumbs Up/Down" makes little sense in general, but when it comes to Asif Kapadia's "The Warrior," it's virtually repugnant to say just yes or no to such work of rare and consuming integrity.

This brilliant new British director made his debut at 29, when the 2005 Miramax US release of "The Warrior" appeared in its initial form in 2001. It is shot entirely - and spectacularly, with the painterly prowess of a Zhang Yimou - in India of long ago. It is a work onto itself, without regard to convention or audience comfort.

Kapadia does not bother to introduce his subject or to invite viewers into the world he depicts, he thrusts them into it with the first frame, and he doesn't stop... until about an hour into the film, there is a brief episode not involving gripping, threatening, breathtaking conflict.

As does the director, the great new star in the title role, Irfan Khan, is also making his debut, but he has a face, a presence that you feel you have always known. He plays the top warrior, the enforcer and executioner for a inhumanly cruel warlord, a man slaughtering men, women and children of the villages that don't pay their taxes in full. When he suddenly stops killing and seeks a different life, the hunter becomes the hunted.

From this point on, when Hollywood would follow one of two or three possible scenarios, Kapadia continues to enthrall the viewer, the story unfolding in its own unique, riveting way, never becoming slack, lazy, predictable. Intensity continues unabated, suffused with meaning and complexity.

From India's Rajasthani Desert to the Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh, there are spectacular backdrops, but Roman Osin's camera is consistently on the faces - ancient, stoic faces (most of the cast never acted before), showing the barest signs of emotion - magnified in context and in the close-ups.

At the most horrendous moment of "The Warrior," the face on which we'd expect the reaction is suddenly hidden by the camera shifting up so that we see only a riot of colorful turbans. We both want to see that disappearing face, and are grateful that we don't have to witness it.

"The Warrior" takes control, arousing and maintaining intense feelings that you'll rarely experience in a theater. Which way the thumbs that wave high for the usual infantile drivel? Let's just break 'em.

A very worthwhile film, assuming you don't need rivers of blood, yucky closeups of severed body parts or explosions every twelve minutes to hold your interest.

Most stories about the killer who renounces violence feature a lip-smacking, almost pornographic delight in the violence itself. This film successfully avoids that trap.

The story has echoes of samurai tales to it, though the settings are the deserts of Rajastan and the mountains of the Himalayas - lowlands bad, mountains good, as always.

The lead actor is both expressive and restrained, the support is sufficient, and the whole experience moving. I hope a DVD version gets issued in the US before too long.

A slow moving and beautifully shot meditation on life and death, all set within a barren and inhospitable landscape. THE WARRIOR marked Asif Kapadia's breakout from short films into feature length cinema, and it's a stunning debut. A familiar storyline unfolds in a leisurely and unhurried way, promoting realism at all times. Don't go in thinking this is an action film due to the misleading title, because you'll be disappointed: there isn't a single sword fight to be found.

Irrfan Khan is a delight as the titular character, but the real star here is Kapadia himself. His cinematography aches with beauty, and he has a way of shooting isolated landscapes in a way that few other directors can match (for more of this check out FAR NORTH). Not since Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre have I seen such a film shot through with this kind of artistic composition. There are shades of the Lone Wolf & Cub films here, but this meditative film turns out to be something else entirely; I really liked it.

I watched this last night and it is so entrenched in my mind that I'm going to watch it again today.

Quite simply stunning from start to finish with well-rounded characters in their silence and simplicity.

The younger members of the cast more than keep up with those older and everyone is so utterly believable that it is more like having a glimpse into a life that once was ~ and may be yet in a far-off land ~ rather than a film.

A film that says so much without really verbalising much at all. Have oxygen at hand because it really will take your breath away!

the warrior is amazingly well filmed in great locations. the plot is not one of the most amazing to ever to be put to screen, and the ending did leave a lot to be desired. But this film had it's moments and Irfan Khan put in a great performance. but this is a film to be taken as a spectacle of cinematography and on that level i doubt any one can find reason to criticise this visually stunning film. i recommend this film if you have the time and enjoy the spectacle of an amazingly filmed movie but it doesn't have the best story line and the ending leaves a lot more questions then answers.