Bandit Queen (1994)

When I like a film, I am usually happy to watch it over and over.  A good movie is like a good album that I listen to again and again; I want to watch it closely and repeatedly until I know every nuance, until I can recite the dialogues along with the characters.  Occasionally, though, even a great film can be so harrowing to watch that I am certain I never want to see it again.  Bandit Queen is such a film - a truly excellent piece of filmmaking, a compelling story, brilliantly acted.  But it hurt so much to watch that I don't think I could do it a second time.

Based on the life of Phoolan Devi, a famous dacoit (bandit) who terrorized upper-caste villagers in rural Uttar Pradesh in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bandit Queen opens with Phoolan's marriage, at the age of 11, to a widower more than 20 years her senior.  After being raped and beaten by him, she flees back to her home village.  But as she grows into a young woman, Phoolan (Seema Biswas) is seen as a tramp and a fallen woman, harassed by upper-caste men, and eventually driven from the village.  She is kidnapped by a gang of bandits, whose second-in-command Vikram (Nirmal Pandey) takes a liking to her.  After an internecine power struggle, Vikram takes control of the gang, trains Phoolan in the dacoit's arts, and becomes her lover.  But Vikram's mutiny has earned them an enemy in the gang's former boss, SriRam (Govind Namdev), a member of the high-ranking Thakur caste.  The remainder of the film tracks Phoolan's war with SriRam, which quickly mutates from an arguably noble struggle for caste justice into a very personal vendetta.

The film accentuates the parched bleakness of its subject with breathtaking cinematography, sweeping a sun-baked desert landscape.  Ultimately, though, whether you can tolerate this bleak and grisly tale depends upon how many rapes you can stand to watch in one film.  Phoolan suffers unbearable abuse and degradation, and the camera lingers on all of it, bringing the viewer as close as a movie can to experiencing it right along with her.  Seema Biswas's outstanding performance (along with those of the first class supporting cast) magnifies the effect. 

The most interesting thing about Bandit Queen is that despite the outrageously hard life Phoolan has had, the film avoids glorifying her quest for vengeance.  She is not portrayed as any kind of Robin Hood crusading for the rights of the poor and downtrodden.  Vikram's motivations may be somewhat nobler, but Phoolan is shown to be an antisocial psychopath, too damaged to control her eruptive rage.  In one horrible sequence, Phoolan exacts revenge on the man who married her when she was a child, beating him savagely while he begs for his life.  At moments Phoolan appears on the verge of gaining control over her rage, only to be repeatedly overcome by a fresh surge of violent anger.  Phoolan's viciousness is a challenge to the viewer's sympathy for her hatred of her abusers. 

Ultimately, Bandit Queen is one of the best movies I've ever seen that I hated watching.  Though it's a compelling story and an impeccably made film, it is nevertheless a disturbing and difficult two hours. 

Comments

[Beth]

This is sitting on top of my tv waiting to be watched and now I'm a little frightened. The person who lent it to me was pretty quiet about it, and now I know why. I'm still really intrigued, though. And I'll be sure to have my teddy bear handy.

[carla]

Beth, I think it's worth a try, especially with that teddy bear close by. The first forty minutes are pretty unrelenting; after that you at least get to take a breath between difficult scenes.

[Daddy's Girl]

After watching this movie, I felt like I'd been run over by a tractor. So compelling, but so not fun to watch. Very worthwhile, though - definitely got me thinking for a minute. And yes, Seema Biswas is amazing in this movie (as in almost everything she's ever done).

[Amit]

Interesting fact - after being released on parole, Phoolan Devi went on to run for congress and won! She was a Member of Parliament (MP) before being shot to death, probably by her enemies from the past.

-amit

[carla]

Thanks Amit - I think *Bandit Queen* was made while Phoolan Devi was still in prison and before she entered formal politics. I remember reading about her in the news when she was killed - it made quite an impression on me. Her story after the movie seems at least as interesting as the story in the film itself.

Daddy's girl - your turn of phrase, "run over by a tractor," is very apt.