The Warrior

Colour, 35mm
United Kingdom/ India, 2001, 87 min
Section: Horizons - Awarded Films

Synopsis

Lafcadia is the leader of a small but select band of warriors who serve a tyrannical lord. His son looks up to him and, not surprisingly, wants to be a warrior too. But Lafcadia is changing: after razing one of the lord’s ‘disobedient’ villages, he vows to leave his bloody profession and return to the mountains, back to his native village. The lord, however, will allow none to leave his service and so sends other warriors to bring back Lafcadia’s head. They kill his son and with a heavy heart Lafcadia sets out on the journey alone. On the way he meets a boy named Riaz, who has lost his parents, and he decides to follow the warrior. A visionary blind woman joins up with them on her pilgrimage to a holy lake. Pursued by the lord’s men, the three make their way towards the mountains. . . The Warrior is an epic, visually stunning story of Lafcadia’s cleansing journey from deep in the Indian wasteland to the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas. The film garnered Best Camera at San Sebastian and took the Main Prize Sutherland Cup in London.

About the director

Asif Kapadia (b. 1973, London) graduated from the Royal College of Art. His graduation film, The Sheep Thief (1997), won second prize at Cannes and the Grand Prix at the European Short Film Festival in Brest. He then worked as a director of telefilms, documentaries and shorts for Carlton Television and BBC TV (with whom he still co-operates). He is also known for a number of award-winning commercials. The Warrior is his feature debut.