FOOD FOR THOUGHT : "THE TERRORIST"

Don’t let the name of this film irk you. It is neither a dodgy action movie nor some sort of propaganda film. It is, on the contrary, quite a respectable art film. It’s respectability extends to the point that on viewing it in a festival in India, John Malkovich was so impressed by it that he personally took on its distribution, thus kick-starting novice director’s career – it was, in fact, his first feature film. On viewing the film, I cannot in all honesty say that I can see what impressed him in the film… Whether I would be THAT impressed by it, is another matter altogether.
The story takes place in a terrorist cell in the south of India – a Tamil terrorist cell to be precise. Malli is the one-woman-wonder in of this particular cell, her renown for bravery and devotion to the cause is a thing of legend. Her fame is pushed even further by the fact that her brother has actually died for the cause. So, as you can imagine, she is greatly honored when she is selected for a suicide mission that will kill a high-profile political figure. She travels to the location the “operation” will take place and begins to await her big moment. But the few days between her arrival and the event itself will prove vital; on the one hand there is the old couple, blissfully unaware of her intentions, who are her acting landlords and who have taken to her almost like a daughter. On the other hand there are the memories of true love back at her initial camp. But on the other side of the scales there is the cause she believes in and her family honor to keep to the standard her brother has set. Although this seems unthinkable at the beginning, the main question has soon become, will she be able to go through with it?
Now, after having created such suspense I hate to give the answer so quickly, but it is only to point out that the film is based on real events; notably the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indra Ghandi. But don’t forget, that was real life and this is a film, who knows, maybe the director has used some artistic license? Besides, it is not always the suspense of not knowing what is going to happen next that keeps us watching a film. This is just one of the tropes; the most commonly used in the west but by far not the only one. One can also empathize with the protagonist and “root” for him or her, getting carried away by the story and our emotions and being a little more benevolent than maybe we would have as far as plot twists and clever narration is concerned. The story of The Terrorist does, I have to say, loose its originality after a certain point (I will not give that point away though, you’ll have no trouble spotting it if you watch the film) but you have somehow become so emotionally involved in the story that by the end, the suspense alone is almost literally killing you.
And if the narrative has its defaults, I can find nothing to say against the photography. Some of the moments captured on film are brilliance themselves. If ?? lacks originality in his message he has without a doubt found a unique way of conveying this message so much so that some of the visuals by themselves are enough to make the film “watchable”. Yes, The Terrorist is a very good example of art cinema, and highly recommended to all who don’t particularly mind watching films in foreign languages =)