Rating: 
Summary: A vew from the inside...
Review: A fantastc journey of a personal transformation. Very rich in intellectual and thinking material in terms of conflict transformation, cultural semiotics, and environmental peacemaking. The time is wisely used for intraspection both for the characters and for the viewer. If you expect "Kill Bill" action, this is not your movie.
Rating:
Summary: a visually stunning film
Review: A great film from India's finest cinematographer.It's visual language is poetic,original and eloquent.It manages to capture the dilema, one goes through while making choices between life and death for duty.As John Malkowich calls it"A true masterpiece of economy,grace and beauty".The film takes us on a remarkable journey in to the mind of it's protogonist.
Rating: 
Summary: keeps you wondering until the last 30 seconds of the film
Review: First off let's go over the DVD itself. The movie is transferred well except for a few spots where the film is scratched (twice kind of heavily for a few seconds). The audio transfer is relatively good. The only part that is bad is that for a minute or two of film, the movie shakes. I'm not sure if this was a transfer problem or if that was from the original film, but it distracts at a key part of the film. Also for reference this DVD has trailers (both foreign and domestic) but no other extras. As far as the film itself, it was marvelous. The acting was suberb. The details of the cinematography really add to the movie's atmosphere.
Rating:
Summary: keeps you wondering until the last 30 seconds of the film
Review: First off let's go over the DVD itself. The movie is transferred well except for a few spots where the film is scratched (twice kind of heavily for a few seconds). The audio transfer is relatively good. The only part that is bad is for a minute or two of film the movie shakes. I'm not sure if this was a transfer problem or if that was from the original film, but it distracts at a key part of the film. As far as the film itself, it was marvelous. The acting was suberb. The details of the cinematography really add to the movie's atmosphere.
Rating:
Summary: Choose Your Life: Compelling Drama from India about a Girl
Review: For all its title, this Indian film is not in any way political; though it is clearly inspired by the assacination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, by a girl who strapped a bomb around her body, the location of "The Terrorist" remains vague. But that makes a point because the film concentrates an orphaned girl Malli's pyschological change from a soldier fighting in the jungle for cause, into something she never thought of before, something with humanity. The film neither defends nor accuses the terrorism (whatever you may define it) and those who are involved in it. The director wisely avoids including any reference to political climate, and sets his forcus upon the girl who believes her cause, and for that purpose, could be ruthless to kill a man. She is chosen for the 'human bomb' soldier to assacinate one statesman, and when she knows that, she quite happily starts the preparatory course for the mission, saying the words of gratitude before the commander. And Malli is sent to an old farmer's house under false identity, in order to wait for the order, but there she encounters the events that influence her way of thinking. For the reason that is gradually revealed in flashback sequences, her strong will starts to falter. In fact, Malli is given a chance to choose her life, which is to be suggested in the end. Shot all with natural lighting, and except the leading actress Ayesha Dharkar, with all non-professional actors, the film shows the impressive contrast of darkness and light. Santosh Sivan, acclaimed photographer of India, gives his second feature as a director, and his skill for capturing the natural light is brilliantly shown here, with finely realized images of green, wet jungle. Though the film does not tell us anything particularly new about terrorism and its participants, its cinematography surely sneaks into the (possibly imaginary to some extent, but realistic) world of them. But, the greatest treasure of the film is the lead Ayasha Dharkar, whose natural beauty never leaves the memory of ours the instant she looks deep into the camera. Her wide eyes are as expressive as anything I have seen on the screen recently, and if for her acting only, the film deserves your time and money. Actually, you might have seen her already in a certain Hollywood blockbuster film called "Episode II" (no kidding), but George Lucas seems to have missed it. A real shame. (About where she was, read on till the end.) John Malkovich, when he was chairman at Cairo Film Festival, loved the film so much that he decided to lend his name to introduce the film worldwide. So, Japanese poster of this film has a line "John Malkovich Presents" and his enthusiastic feelings are only natural. "The Terrorist" may put off many prospective viewers because of its topic and title, but the film deals with more personal matter, about which we should think for once. And again I say, the lead is so compelling that you never turn your eyes from her. The director Santosh Sivan later joined respected Indian director Mani Rathnam's film "Dil Se" (1998) as a photographer. The film, which became a top 10 hit in UK, uses the same topic in a very different way. If you have a chance to see it, don't miss it. Oh, and about her role in "Episode II": yes, Ayasha Dharka played Queen Jamillir, present Queen of Naboo where Natalie Portman's Amidara meets her.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I loved the movie The Terrorist. It is a non-Bollywood Indian film that doesnt altogether escape the somewhat cheesy nature of some of these movies, but it remains extremely emotional and dark throughout. The main character struggles between her duty to her "country", the rebels she fights with, and sacrificing her life to take the lives of others (namely the leader of the Government, this sort of assassination has really taken place in India in the fairly recent past). She seems to really begin to understand the beautiful, fragile nature of life when she meets a little boy who is to be her guide. The movie is not too violent and I would recommend it to a mature PG-13 audience.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I loved the movie The Terrorist. It is a non-Bollywood Indian film that doesnt altogether escape the somewhat cheesy nature of some of these movies, but it remains extremely emotional and dark throughout. The main character struggles between her duty to her "country", the rebels she fights with, and sacrificing her life to take the lives of others (namely the leader of the Government, this sort of assassination has really taken place in India in the fairly recent past). She seems to really begin to understand the beautiful, fragile nature of life when she meets a little boy who is to be her guide. The movie is not too violent and I would recommend it to a mature PG-13 audience.
Rating:
Summary: Stylized reality
Review: I saw this film in Sri Lanka in 2000. The manner of film-making is stylized to western eyes but the process of the film is very compelling. An Indian film purporting to represent no country in particular, the Sri Lankan conflict (an its Indian implications) is obviously the focus. The sheer insanity of this 20 year civil war is conveyed by depictions of cruelty - physical and emotional - on both sides. The essentially banal process of indoctrinating Mali, the female suicide bomber to be, is subtly complicated by routine and not so routine human contact on the road to her intended destiny. Seeing the film in Sri Lanka during a month when there were three suicide bombings around the capitol engendered a palpable sense of depression as the film progressed. Nevertheless, the circumstances surrounding her final decision in the film makes a grab at hope. American sophisticates will call the denoument 'preachy', but when a nation is tearing itself apart from the inside there's nothing wrong with a good sermon. As an educator, I would recommend the film for use in undergraduate course work or seminars dealing with a range of issues for discussion, complemented by readings on the Gandhi assassination and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and India.
Rating:
Summary: Stylized reality
Review: I saw this film in Sri Lanka in 2000. The manner of film-making is stylized to western eyes but the process of the film is very compelling. An Indian film purporting to represent no country in particular, the Sri Lankan conflict (an its Indian implications) is obviously the focus. The sheer insanity of this 20 year civil war is conveyed by depictions of cruelty - physical and emotional - on both sides. The essentially banal process of indoctrinating Mali, the female suicide bomber to be, is subtly complicated by routine and not so routine human contact on the road to her intended destiny. Seeing the film in Sri Lanka during a month when there were three suicide bombings around the capitol engendered a palpable sense of depression as the film progressed. Nevertheless, the circumstances surrounding her final decision in the film makes a grab at hope. American sophisticates will call the denoument 'preachy', but when a nation is tearing itself apart from the inside there's nothing wrong with a good sermon. As an educator, I would recommend the film for use in undergraduate course work or seminars dealing with a range of issues for discussion, complemented by readings on the Gandhi assassination and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and India.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 and a half stars would have been more accurate.
Review: One can read the story in other reviews so I won't go into that. Let me start with the things that I didn't like.I didn't like the ending.It would have been better if her final decision remained unknown to us or even to her.Also in the first part of the movie as she travels towards the village a couple of takes look like they would have been more appropriate for a videoclip. The political talk is also rather naive.Furthermore how is it that everything in the village runs so smoothly if the general situation is so bad ? This is part of a more general weakness:We never really learn what are the motives for the rebellion.Depending on what the movie reveals to us it seems that her own motive is just revenge.So it seems only natural that she's beginning to change her mind when her life becomes good.If we have no idea why the cause of the rebels was important in the first place her shift of view doesn't carry much weight. Now to the good parts.The cinematography is really good.The movie has many brilliant ideas like instead of actually seeing the soldiers getting killed we just see the horror on the face of Lotus.Or the fact that we never see what the "VIP" looks like or learn his name.Or the old woman in her "frozen" position with her hand looking like she was holding someone.The look on her face says more than a thousand words.Parmeshwaran is great in his part.The music is quite good. All and all worth watching.
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