Character Study

October 08, 2020

Character Study | A Rebel

If I kill a man they call it murder. If they do it, they call it war.

He is a finest soldier, after getting exhausted fighting for English in Calcutta and Kabul, deserts and returns home, only to find his nation turned inhabitable because of famine and tyranny. Upon learning that his mother was killed, deprived of food, and brother hanged for refusal of paying taxes, and the only left neighbor is made to die shivering in the cold, he avenges the responsible. He employs the brutal methods of punishment for traitors he learnt from the lands he occupied for English. He is a devoted soldier, who gets help even from the English, his former captain. He is an Irelander.

I'm doubtful if I can find an appropriate adjective from my vocabulary or even dictionary to express my emotions for this film 'Black'47'. Because adjectives mostly are positive. This film is subtle, intense and unsettling. I was taken back to the 18th century. I never had the feeling of watching a film but either an Irelander or an English existing in that period of the past. This film belongs to the genre 'Famine Revenge Drama'. If you are not an admirer of feel good films but thoughtful and provocative kind, then this film is an essential watch. Highly recommended.

Technically speaking, cinematography is top notch. Most of the sequences were shot in dark with seemingly candle lit lights, something reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.