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| View Larger Image | The Terrorist | DVDStarring: Ayesha Dharker, K. Krishna, Sonu Sisupal, Vishwas, Anuradha
Directed By: Santosh Sivan
| List Price: | $12.95 | | Price: | $11.49 | | You Save: | $1.46 (11%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 95 minutes | | Format: | Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Fox Lorber | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.85:1 | | Release Date: | December 05, 2000 | | Sales Rank: | 36,998th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Inspired by the events surrounding the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, The Terrorist focuses on the making of a suicide bomber marching towards the end of her life. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 24 reviews)
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Love Conquers All? by Artist & Author (Near Mt. Baker, WA)  5 Stars
August 09, 2006
There is a very subtle, but important message in this movie. This girl, Malli, had been brought up in a terrorist atmosphere since her parents and, later, her older brother were killed in the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka. That is literally all she knew.
I once met a trained Iranian terrorist who was sent to India to blow up an airliner. However, there was a delay in their plans, and he fell into extended contact with a Christian woman. She was so loving and so kind to him, completely opposite of what he'd been taught in Islamic Iran, that he began to doubt his mission to kill innocent people. Eventually, he converted to Christianity and moved to the United States. This movie is the same story, except that the kind person was Hindu.
Malli simply could not reconcile what she saw and felt while staying with this loving man, one who tenderly cared for seven years for his comatose wife, with what she'd been taught in her terrorist training camps. Maybe it is true that love conquers all! At least, especially in the light of Islamic terrorism to prevalent today, this movie raises such issues. Does love always work? Or, can terrorists use one's loving gestures against them? Traditional values, especially religious familles, would find this topic to be a lively and, hopefully, fruitful discussion.
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middle of the road by Pinaki Ghosh (Austin, TX USA)  3 Stars
June 15, 2006
this is the Story of "Dhanu" who killed Rajiv Gandhi. Mind of a suicide bomber is strange thing - we do not know if it has so many flash backs as shown in the movie or is it dark. Sometimes suicide bombers even take drugs before the operation. This was a golden opportunity to research the mind of a bomber ("Dhanu" was just a brainwashed agent of LTTE) but the director did an extremely poor job. The plot is a real life story but the acting is below par most of the time. Filmotography is quite crude (may be I am getting used to Karusawa) - the worst part is the music - same theme music again and again and again
2 good things - they hardly ever show blood or the crudeness of destruction -we see enough violence so we don't want to see more - next - it shows a human face of the bomber - the reticent character which hides (or may be projects) the determination -
While it should have emphasized that checkpoint rape on the part of Sri Lankan military in Tamil areas (e.g., on the east coast) has certainly mobilized female Tamils, encouraged abused women to join the organization that would provide safe haven, protection, and acceptance, and provides evidence of the government's cruelty, the movie fails to address it and ignores it completely
If you see it you may like it but if you do not see it you will not miss a great deal
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Will having a child interfere with your day job? by Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) 3 Stars
April 21, 2006
With the current level of violence in the Middle East, one might forget that there were suicide bombers before 9/11, or that women also fill that role, or that there are suicidal zealots other than Arab Muslims. THE TERRORIST, a 1998 film from India, is a reminder of all three.
Malli (Ayesha Dharker) is a young Indian woman fighting with anti-government separatists. Her hatred, amplified by the death of her brother, compels her to volunteer for a special mission - to assassinate a government VIP with plastic explosive strapped around her waist after placing a garland around his neck during a public welcoming ceremony. To arrive at the appointed time and place, it's arranged that Malli leave her jungle training camp and temporarily reside with a benevolent, old farmer, otherwise unconnected with the plot, and his bedridden, catatonic wife. During her stay with the couple, Malli becomes aware that she's pregnant, the father being a wounded comrade-in-arms that she'd previously rescued from the river after an assault by government forces, but who was later captured and brutally killed. Malli is constantly haunted by their too-brief time together. In any case, the old man is thrilled and offers himself as the mother and child's guardian.
The reason one is apt to stick with this low-budget film to its conclusion is to witness Malli's decision. Pregnant with her lover's child, and offered a "normal" existence with the old farmer, does she have the commitment to the separatists' cause to push the red button? Will hatred negate maternal instinct? During a couple of dress rehearsals for the kill, it appears she does and it will. (Feminists are likely to be outraged at the callous manipulation of the young woman by her male co-conspirators, who, it must be said in all justice, never learn of her pregnancy.)
THE TERRORIST, as a production, might have been helped - for the benefit of foreign viewers - with scenes of India more interesting to those who haven't been there. As it is, one mostly sees only anonymous jungle, the farmer's house and grounds, and frequent shots of a river spanned being crossed by trains on a long bridge. And the soundtrack becomes annoying with a repetitive, ominous dirge that plays every time Malli is shown considering the choice she must make.
Although not as good as the recent PARADISE NOW (which takes place in Israel and the Occupied West Bank), THE TERRORIST is a worthwhile glimpse into the making of a suicide bomber.
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The Heart of Terror by Robert Lachman (Red Hook, NY USA) 5 Stars
August 30, 2005
"O comrade be vigilant. You can sleep after death. Until then, fight on." So says Malli (Ayesha Daharkar), the intensely beautiful protagonist of Santosh Siva's remarkable film, "The Terrorist."
Actor-producer John Malkovich was at the Cairo Film Festival in late 1998 when he found this gem of a film amid the usual mediocre film festival fare.
"The movies we saw were not terribly good, but then few movies are," he said in a NY Times article back in January, 2003. "Roughly two thirds of the way through our film marathon, an Indian film called "The Terrorist" began. Costing roughly $50,000 and shot in 16 days with no lighting, "The Terrorist" is a small masterpiece of economy, grace and precision."
The Cinematographer of over forty films, director Siva ("Roja," "Indira"),won two prizes for his film at Cairo: Best Director and The Golden Pyramid for best film of the festival. "The Terrorist" is Siva's first feature film and a masterful piece of work, for within its frames he manages to give political extremism a human face.
"The Terrorist" was inspired by the events surrounding the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, in 1991. The film focuses on the making of a suicide bomber marching towards the end of her young life.
Malli has spent most of her nineteen years in revolutionary training. An unemotional killer, she interviews for and wins a coveted suicide bomber job. The target, described only as "the VIP," is to be assassinated in a week. However the grueling path to the VIP's murder allows Malli to reflect on her past, and come to grips with her own emotions for the first time. The people she meets affect her in a new way and the memories of her one and only moment of true love causes her to rethink the path she has taken.
In the opening frames of this remarkable film, we are shown the execution of a traitor by his fellow revolutionaries. The hooded executioner puts a pistol under the chin of the victim and the camera cuts to a close up of the executioner's face. We hear the sound of a shot, as blood splatters across the killer's white muslin hood. The executioner quickly pulls the hood off to reveal the beautiful young face of Malli, the nineteen-year-old girl who is to become the focal point and the conscience of the film. She wipes the blood off her face. The camera cuts to a close up of Malli with one of her comrades behind her brushing her hair.
"If I were a man I'd marry you," Malli's comrade says. The camera then cuts to what begins a searing series of sequences involving water. We see Malli's hood floating in the river. The next cut is to a close up of a spoon stirring a glass of ice tea as the terrorist leader discusses the next big job. Throughout the film water plays a big part, usually when Malli meditates on her life, where it's been and what is left of it.
We learn, through interviews of the young revolutionaries, that Malli has quite an exalted background. Her father was a well-known nationalist poet, and her older brother, Ramu, was the first of their faction to "consume cyanide and die for the movement." We also learn that she has participated in "30 operations - all successful," as she says during her interview.
After the Leader of the group picks Malli to be the assassin, he gives her lunch and tells her she has to be a "thinking bomb," which is an interesting turn of phrase, since she is quite thoughtful and rarely speaks at all in the film. Her strong face, full wide mouth and enormously expressive eyes do all the talking for her.
Once she is picked, her journey across India to the place of her martyrdom begins. And it is in these breathtaking and haunting scenes that she begins to define herself and her place in the world. It is in these scenes that the film really shines.
"The Terrorist" is not a political thriller as we know it.
There is very little violence and what there is, is shown almost mystically off screen, using the actor's reactions to the violence. At one point a vehicle of some kind is blown up when it hits a land mine. We hardly hear it and if it weren't for the character's reaction and a few wisps of smoke that eventually fill the frame, we wouldn't have known what happened. The film is really about Malli and how her short violent past interferes with her future. Throughout the film director Sivan fills the frame with Malli's impassive face, forcing you to look deep into her soul. But it is not until the end where you begin to feel the terrible weight of her destiny, that the viewer can actually get a glimpse of the longing for something better that begins to surface on that amazing face.
The old farmer Malli lives with just before she is to assassinate the VIP is named Vasu (Parmeshwaran), and his relationship with Malli becomes the film's emotional core. The last four days of her life become unbearably suspenseful as she finds out something that will affect the final outcome and struggles within herself to find the strength to change her destiny.
Director Sivan also wrote the story and was the cinematographer of "The Terrorist," and his images will stay with you long after many Western films have faded.
As Vasu says when telling the story of the optimistic seed and the pessimistic seed, "Man has to have dreams so that he can make them real."
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The Individual is Nothing by David Thomson (Houston, TX USA)  4 Stars
August 15, 2005
Director Santosh Sivan had a very small budget to spend on this film. That may have worked out for the best. He opted for a minimalist approach and completed the project in a mere 17 days. All the actors are amateurs. Sivan cannot indulge in character development and verbose dialogue. He must allow the story to unfold quickly and simply. We are introduced to Malli (Ayesha Dharkar), a 19 year old girl who has been brought up to believe that her own life is worthless except as it serves the overall good of the community. Yes, it is very safe to assume that she is totally unaware of the individualist writings of Ayn Rand. Never for a moment does she seem surprised by the "leader" ordering her to become a suicide bomber. Malli's nonchalance tells you all you need to know about the evils of Communism. The expression on her face is similar to a young girl asked by a teacher to do a little more home work. Her assigned victim is a VIP who is somehow hindering (we never learn the exact reason) the revolution or even the name of the country. You want to feel sorry for Malli---but then you realize that she could put a bullet through your head without a second thought.
Malli is impregnated by a youth who has been killed by the soldiers of the existing regime. She is overwhelmed by the presence of life within her body. Existentially it forces her to reevaluate her place in the universe. Will she be able to ultimately blow up the opposition dignitary and herself? She had met new friends, the farmer Vesu and his comatose wife. Can they provide new meaning for Malli's life? Or is she comparable to a rabid dog who can never again live among regular people? This is not a great movie. It only deserves four stars. Still, Malli's story is haunting and truly unforgettable. I'm sure I will think of her long into the distant future.
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