The Sheila Variations

"The Terrorist"

Powerful film. Surprisingly so. I say surprising because I went into it with preconceived notions - many of which were incorrect. Until the last second I didn't know how this movie would end. I won't spoil it here. The acting is uniformly good, and to my taste each and every frame of this movie is a mini work of art. I highly recommend this movie - it's very important. The conflict is unnamed, although you can guess which war it is, due to the ethnicity of the characters. Malli, a 19 year old guerrilla soldier, is chosen to be a suicide bomber for a very important mission. It will "inspire generations to come". Again, the mission itself is not spelled out specifically but we get the idea: She is going to be blowing up some head of state. This is a targeted attack on a high-level politician. Malli has grown up in war, her father was a revolutionary, and her brother was also a "martyr" - so inflexibility and focused mania for the cause run in her blood. The film is very interesting because (and Ebert pointed this out in his review, and I agree with him) - unlike other films where, even though the main character is a murderer - or has done heinous things - you start to root for him (uhm, see every James Cagney movie ever made!) ... this is not the case here. Throughout the entire movie, you sit there and you keep hoping that somehow it will be called off, that she will NOT succeed. Her mission is futile, you just know this ... she is filmed like a lamb going for the slaughter. She is right in her mind, though - that's the thing. She has chosen this. She wants this. But, as with all good movies, the reality is a little bit more complex, once you start going into it, once you start getting to know her. Ebert writes too that you identify with her without identifying with her goal. Now that is a tricky thing, a very difficult thing - but this movie completely succeeds. And like I said, up until the very last frame of the film I did not know which way it would go. The last 20 minutes are terrible. Terribly stressful, I mean. There is this blazing-eyed martyrdom that is being yearned for ... and surrounding all of that is a sense of complete inevitability. There is no free will. You cannot stop the suicide bomber train once you get on it. That's a one-way ticket. Ayesha Dharkur who plays Malli is riveting, in every single second. She's got a face that the camera LOVES. Feelings ripple across it, breaking to the surface only occasionally. She's gorgeous, but in a way that seems totally non-actress-y.

A chilling film. The absolutes of Malli's world are chilling. There's something I get there, something I do understand ... but it is a world where one cannot really afford to have personal relationships. There is only room for the cause. Of course, this becomes the main conflict in the film.

I've posted some screenshots below. You'll see what I mean about their beauty. The fact that this is such a gorgeously shot film is interesting, and I've been thinking a lot about it. The surroundings are lush, almost cartoon jungle, huge green leaves dripping with rain water, rushing rivers, gentle rainfall ... The countryside looks so lush, so fecund and welcoming ... Yet the reality is carnage. I'm sure that that dichotomy is deliberate.

This is the little boy named Lotus. He is an orphan of the war, and he leads people through the jungle from spot to spot because he is an expert on land mines, and how to avoid them. God, you love this little boy. He is wonderful - he has some very difficult things to do in this movie, and your heart just shatters in a million pieces. Somehow, even with the horrors, his innocence has remain untouched. Except at night, when he has nightmares. Wonderful character, I will not forget him.

Lotus leads Malli through the jungle for her to catch the ferry to go off to her appointment with martyrdom. They sleep in Lotus' burned down village - he is the only one left alive.

Crossing into enemy territory.

Lotus again. Look at that precious face.

Uhm. I grabbed the following screen shot basically because that guerrilla dude is a BABE. Total eye candy.

And here Malli is ... the one in white ... being rowed to her date with destiny.

Posted by sheila