The Warrior
Screened: 22 September 2003
Introduced by Asif Kapadia
India/UK 2001 (subtitles)
Directed by Asif Kapadia
Leading players ~ Irfan Khan, Puru Chibber, Sheikh Annuddin.
Synopsis
Seen by some as “basically a Western transposed to India” and “a film to reaffirm your faith in cinema”, this first feature by Hackney newcomer Asif Kapadia echoes classic work of Boetticher, Mann and Leone and sets up Kapadia as a director worth watching.The story follows the journey, both physical and spiritual, of warlord Lafcadia (Irfan Khan). Sent by his own warlord - the Master of the Rajput people (Anupam Shyam) - to punish a village for absconding tithes, Lafcadia finds himself unable to slay a local girl who carries his son’s pendant around her neck. Sickened by the brutality he puts down sword and vows never to kill again. In search of solace and enlightment Lafcadia travels through North West India’s desert and mountain region to the Himalayas.
However, the Master is unhappy with his dissension and sends Biswas (Lafcadia’s former second in command) to pursue him with bloody intentions.
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The film is beautiful, exotic and spectacular capturing the uncertain wilderness that is both North West India and Kapadia’s mind. The dialogue is minimal and the stress on visual style and representational iconography is clearly referential to Kurosawa and Leone. Although not psychologically complex, The Warrior can be seen in a tradition of mythic storytelling that exaggerates time and space in order to address the bigger questions of our existence, in particular Lafcadia’s sense of moral responsibility, guilt and identity.The pursuit and persecution by Biswas results in the murder of Lafcadia’s son Katiba (Puru Chibber) and opens the narrative thread of salvation. So, when Lafcadia meets the escaped slave Riaz (Noor Mani), whose family was also killed by a bloodthirsty warlord, can Lafcadia redeem himself?
