Bandit Queen

Bandit Queen

Sometimes I think people only like movies because they're so full of graphic brain-fucking that they'd feel guilty saying they didn't enjoy it.

Now, that's a bit unfair with Bandit Queen. Nobody could enjoy this movie. Think it was a good movie, yeah, but not enjoy it. Bandit Queen shows the absolute darkest side of India through the life of Phoolan Devi, the infamous bandit who helped revolutionize India for women and the lower castes (at least, as much as one woman could). And it's well-done; it definitely fucks with your head, upsets you, and makes you want to cry. Vicious gang-rape scenes and woman beating can be overdone, but even though that's the meat of Bandit Queen, it doesn't seem like they're beating you over the head with it.

Well, not too much. There's a difference between showing a tragic event effectively (Schindler's List) and bombarding people with rape and tragedy for the shock factor (the television series Rome). There are times where it's VERY obvious the makers of Bandit Queen didn't quite catch on to the difference. I can handle a movie that's tragic or disturbing and drives the point home (Pinjar or Water), I can't stand films that stab you multiple times with said point (Bandit Queen).

Also, I would like to briefly point out that there are maybe half a dozen movies that have drained me so much afterwards that I couldn't do anything, that I felt like I was in another world and everything else around me didn't matter. Bandit Queen is one of them, and if you need a western response; Passion of the Christ. I was worthless for the rest of the day after I saw that movie; I just couldn't bring myself to do anything because it all felt...hopeless. Think about movies that effect you that way, and you have an idea about the power of Bandit Queen.

The truth is that I didn't even think Bandit Queen was a great movie. I'm glad I saw it, but parts of it really nag me. Namely, Phoolan Devi was only portrayed as being strong when a man had her back. The specific example that sticks out in my mind is when she and Man Singh are running from the police, and she yells out that she'll "tell Vikram and get him to beat you." Vikram being her dead male lover.

Seriously? This woman is supposed to be a beacon of strength, a symbol of feminine empowerment, yet when things get tough she runs crying to Vikram's memory like it's a crutch? This happens all throughout the film: if men aren't supporting her, she loses all of her power.

Bandit Queen is a movie you should only see once. I had to see it twice: the first time I was wholely unaware of its content and watched it because Manoj Bajpai was in it, and the second time--tonight--my Bengali lit professor put it on in my night class. I considered explaining myself to her so I could get out of it, but I couldn't. I'd probably have to get in to the personal experiences that make me super-sensitive to rape scenes, and that's just too much.

So I watched it again and tried not to feel too drained afterwards.

And I promised to try and write my opinions briefly (because this is as brief as I can get about this movie) out of my original format.

All rambling aside: yes, you should see Bandit Queen. But don't buy it. It's a movie you have to see, because if Karan Johar's films are India's colorful face multiplied by a thousand, Bandit Queen is India's sickly, rotting underbelly. And being half German, I know first-hand that knowing the dark side of your country's past is just as important as knowing about the beauty its brought to the world. Watch Bandit Queen once, then watch some Bollywood masala candyfloss. I'm sure your perspective on India--or any country, for that matter--will even out, allowing you to see India not as a backwards country, nor solely as a producer of happy-go-lucky flicks, but as a humanized entity with flawlessness and flaws.

But I swear to almighty GOD, I will never watch this movie a third time unless somebody holds a gun to my head.

I would like to note that Phoolan Devi herself debated the historical accuracy of this film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoolan_Devi#Film_and_autobiography