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The Warrior (2001/I) More at IMDbPro »

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25 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Simple, Poetic, Beautiful, 25 October 2003

Author: tonstant viewer

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.

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19 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
breathtakingly beautiful, 8 October 2004
Author: balloon-3 from United Kingdom

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.

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13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
A gem of a film well worth seeking out., 24 April 2002

Author: johnmcm from Edinburgh

With his debut feature 'The Warrior', Asif Kapadia has immediately identified himself as a director worth watching.

The story follows the journey of the warrior (Irfran Khan) as he attempts to renounce his violent past and find a new life of peace in the mountains of Northern India.

Sickened by the brutality of his role as leader of a band of warriors, he puts down his sword, vowing never to kill again. However he does not account for the wrath of the Warlord who sends his men to hunt him down, with terrible consequences.

A timeless, almost Zen-like film has strong echoes of the work of Sergio Leone, opting for minimal dialogue and careful pacing, and making full use of the spectacular vistas of Northern India's desert and mountain regions.

I suspect you will have to search hard to find this film at your local multiplex, but it is well worth the effort. If you're feeling a tad jaded after too many blockbusters, here's a film to reaffirm your faith in cinema.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Requires patience but is an interesting relocation of a western to a different world, 18 January 2006
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

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.

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11 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
'The Warrior' Takes No Prisoners, 6 July 2005
Author: janos451 from San Francisco

"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.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
great Cinematography, 1 December 2004
Author: Joseph Dally from hackney, england

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.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
I just don't see it, 1 April 2007

Author: lastliberal from Florida

This British film about a warrior that chucks it all for a life of peace was nominated and won many awards. IExcept for some outstanding cinematography, I don't see it.

At first, I thought it might be an "Unforgiven" as the warrior that gives it up comes back for a final job. But the truth is that the warrior (Irfan Khan) never really gave it up at all. At the first opportunity, he takes retribution on the warrior that is chasing him. This was not some noble act, but clear revenge. And that ending! What was that all about? "She said you would come." So what? Maybe you just had to speak Hindi to understand, but that would't help much as Khan doesn't say 100 words through the entire film.

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7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Atonement, 22 July 2005

Author: jotix100 from New York

Director Asif Kapidian's "The Warrior" just arrived to this city in its commercial run. This is a film that will surprise many viewers, nor only for its splendid beauty, but for the way the director has created the right atmosphere in which to tell his story. The amazing cinematography by Roman Osin, is well worth the price of admission. The musical score by Dario Marianelli enhances the action tremendously.

We are taken to a place in Northern India, in the Rajastan, where a feudal lord is seen at the beginning of the movie receiving payment from his tenants. As one poor peasant can't pay, the ruthless man instructs his head henchman to kill the man by beheading him. The warrior, after he gets home, has a change of heart, as he realizes the enormity of his crime.

The warrior and his teen aged son, embark in a trip to the mountains to get away from the feudal lord, but fate intervenes in that his former partners in crime finds the young man. These men take him to face the cruel lord, who orders him to be killed. The warrior, in the crowd witnesses his own son's death.

What follows is a trip to the mountains, alone, where the former warrior meets a young boy along the way who wants to stay with him. They form a bond, until the following avengers catch up with their old partner and there's a showdown. At the end, the former outlaw finds some sense of serenity by staying with his son's friend and her family, where he is welcome.

"The Warrior" is a film of rare beauty where great vistas of India, going from the arid locales of the beginning of the movie change drastically as the warrior goes to the Indian Himalayas, in sharp contrast with what the film has shown before. Irfan Khan plays the title role well under the direction of Mr. Kapadian.

This is a film that clamors to be discovered, as it will not disappoint because of the remarkable work Asif Kapadian has achieved with this movie.

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
The journey begins, 12 December 2005

Author: flingebunt from Harbin, China

When a man of the sword relinquishes violence, he finds it has terrible price. He journeys to his home village where he will find the violence he running from has preceded him.

Written and directed by an English person of Indian descent, with the original inspiration coming from a Japanese folk story, this movie is part of the new Internationalism in cinema. This is in no way, an Indian film, rather it British.

The words have been used by other people and I am going to use them too, then go and spank myself for being so unoriginal.

Simple. Beautiful. Poetic.

Ouch.

It is a great example of found cinema, where many actors are simple found at the locations, with some sets being made, and many people, and sets being real. Including one major character being played by an Indian street kid.

I like this sort of movie, and if you do you will probably love this movie too.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
The film lacks Indianness, 8 December 2006

Author: hemal_triv from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The other day I had an opportunity to watch a film of my favorite actor - Irfan Khan. What more can I say about the film - the film is technically perfect! Perfect cinematography, perfect locations, perfect acting, perfect special effects, perfect - loud and theatrical music...The film has a perfect recipe for an artsy, offbeat, film festival favorite, Indian film - some native music, vibrant colors, some poverty, some affective realism and some mysticism.

But the film lacked Indianness - the very Indianness it was perhaps trying to capture. The film lacked soul. The music was too loud, the colors too vibrant and the people too poor. The film was larger than India - it was magnified. It lacked India's simplicity. It lacked naturalness. It lacked the dialogues, the wit, the matter of factedness. The filmmaker was perhaps too obsessed with capturing an impressionistic India that he failed to capture the real India. Compare this film to "Mirch Masala" or "Manthan" and the film falls straight on its face.

I give this film 5 out of 10. And I am generous only because the film has my favorite actor Irfan Khan and he is too good. But I guess the filmmaker needs to spend more time in India to be able to tell India stories.

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