The Warrior

"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 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.

Lafcadia is a warrior working for the local lord as an enforcer – destroying villages that don't pay their share to him and killing whomever he wants killed. It has become too much for him and the slaughter of an old man gives him pauses before he decides on the futility of the whole thing during an attack on a village of women and children. He returns home and prepares to travel to his home village in the Himalayas but his former lieutenant Biswas has been charged with bringing back his head for the lord. Unable to find Lafcadia, Biswas kills his son. Devastated Lafcadia continues his journey, with Biswas not yet finished his quest.

Although rejected by the Academy when put up for the "best foreign language film" category on the grounds that Hindi was not a language of the UK and therefore the UK could not put forward this film (huh?), this film could have easily been rejected on the grounds that The Warrior takes so much of itself from American westerns that it couldn't be considered foreign. I'm being stupid of course, but in essence what we have here is a silent story of a man wandering across the wilderness, meeting people on his way to what will be in some way a confrontation, or showdown if you will. It doesn't really compare to the stronger westerns that have tackled this same theme but it is still interesting. Silently moving forward against impressive backgrounds, there does appear to be the allusion to epic stature in the cinematography and also the pain of the characters. The depth is not really there to support this but it does do well enough to carry the story to the end.

Part of the reason for this is a solid and haunted performance from Khan in the lead. He has little dialogue for large sections of the film but he convinces and engages from start to finish. The support is mostly good (apart from the Lord being played as some sort of Bond villain) but it is Khan's film and he does well. Kapadia's direction is excellent and his use of music and slow camera movements add to the intimacy and patience inherent in the story being told. The cinematography makes good use of the locations but never becomes the whole show.

Overall this is an interesting film that plays well by taking the form of a western and placing it within the Indian feudal system. It is not action packed and requires a certain amount of patience to get into it but, without a lot of dialogue, the cast do well to produce characters that were interesting and that I cared about – particularly Khan in the lead. A worthy winner of "best British film" at the Baftas and worth seeing.

I just finished watching this film and I wanted to find out what the D.O.P. had done before...then I read some of the comments... I cannot believe people call this film long or boring...what were you watching? This films simplicity is one of the reasons that it is so beautiful and powerful. I found this film completely engaging. The fact that the warrior was more of a 'goon' and not 'an honourable warrior' - whatever that is...is the point, surely. There was no honour in what he was doing...he realized that he was merely a hired killer, and for the sake of his son, he had to break the cycle, and to call this film, with all the love and care and hard work that has obviously gone into it, "dishonest" is just............. The locations and photography were breathtaking, the music, the acting ... it was all wonderful.

Watch this to see how films could be...

I cannot recommend it enough.

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!