Malli shoots the prisoner in the head. Soon she is proving herself the bravest of fighters. “If you were a man, I’d marry you,” one of her female colleagues tells her.

Malli is a woman of few words. Terrorism is an act backed up by political and religious ideology. The fact that Malli rarely speaks in the film avoids the tired excuses viewers have come to expect. Instead we are shown why Malli and her colleagues have pledged their young lives to a cause that is happily willing to sacrifice them.

In Malli’s case, her brother was a martyr, while she was still an impressionable child. When the leaders of her movement decide to assassinate a visiting VIP, they chose Malli and she starts off on her journey north through the lush and beautiful forest.

Throughout the film, Malli is hypnotised by water: water swirling in her hand, river water rushing by, rain, shower water running over her head. These images often lead to flashbacks where she rescues a young fighter from the river and hides with him from the soldiers. Lying close together, he becomes entranced by her, fingering her wet hair, an action she repeats throughout the film. Sometime during the night they become lovers. Her memories of this brief night thread through the film.

Malli is guided north by a young boy, Lotus, one of the film’s most memorable characters. Initially self-sufficient and mature, Lotus collapses emotionally after they witness a truck blown up by a mine. The ghosts of his past emerge: he shows Malli the house he lived in with his family, all dead now, killed by the soldiers.

She goes to stay with a farmer, as an agricultural student. She moves into the room of his missing son. Her colleagues turn up to measure her for her costume and explosives belt, and they outline the plan. She will gather with other women to place a garland around the neck of the VIP. Then she will kneel for his blessing. Under her tunic, she will grasp the trigger switch. She is advised in the last few seconds to blank out all thoughts.

Only after they leave does she realise that an old woman lying next door has heard the whole thing. But when she goes to investigate, the farmer tells her his wife has been in a coma for seven years, since their son disappeared.

In the few days Malli stays at the farm, the farmer comes to take a fatherly interest in her, and it is he who tells her she is pregnant. The news comes as a shock. From this point on, Malli is assailed by doubts. She studies her stomach, where she will wear the belt of explosives. She goes through rehearsals of the assassination.

Meanwhile the kindness of the farmer who is willing to take her in and be a grandfather to her child eats at her. During her last night, through disturbed dreams, she hears a baby crying. Before she departs for the assassination, she goes to see the old woman who has overheard her plans and tells her she has to sacrifice her own future for the good of her people. But when Malli gets up to leave, the old woman in a coma grasps her wrist and won’t let go. Malli has to prise herself free, before leaving on a boat for the film’s emotional and heart-stopping ending.

Shot in natural light against a beautiful forest backdrop and lush rain, The Terrorist is a thought-provoking film which allows the viewer to sympathise with Malli without condoning her actions. Her leaders are faceless men we never see, even when they are talking to her, telling her she is an infallible weapon, a thinking bomb. The VIP too is faceless and nameless, though the film was inspired by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Malli’s breathing dominates the soundtrack, adding to the sense of being inside her head. The musical motif that plays throughout meanwhile has religious connotations, highlighting the almost religious nature of Malli’s sacrifice for the cause, though Malli herself never expresses a religious opinion.

One of the key characters of the story is the farmer. The photo journalism of his dead son looks at Malli from every wall of her room, presenting her with an alternative to violent opposition. But the farmer also tells her the tale of two seeds. The optimistic seed and the pessimistic seed. This tale gets to the heart of Malli’s situation, not just as a pregnant woman and a young person herself, but also politically. The optimistic seed believes it will grow and take root in the earth. The pessimistic seed does not: “I refuse to grow unless my security is guaranteed.” The optimistic seed becomes a tree, the pessimistic one gets eaten by a hen. “Man has to have dreams,” the farmer tells her, before getting her to plant a seed. “Only then can there be the desire to make them real.”

9/10 Stunning work from cinematographer-turned-director Santosh Sivan and actress Ayesha Dharker.

MORE REVIEWS

Kara Kellar Bell's reivew of 'Better Than Chocolate' - here

Kara Kellar Bell's review of 'Before Night Falls' - here

Kara Kellar Bell’s review of ‘The Terrorist’ - here

Kara Kellar Bell's review of 'The Devil's Backbone' - here

Kara Kellar Bell's’s review of ‘Better Than Chocolate’ - here

Daniel Pearson’s review of ‘Throne of Blood’ - here

Daniel Pearson’s review of ‘Whale Rider’ - here

A selection of film reviews written by Laura Hird - here