In 2000 (a la Quentin Tarantino), actor extraordinaire John Malkovich introduced a lesser-known Indian film surrounding the 'martyrdom' of real life Tamil Tiger, Thenmuli Rajaratnam, of Sri Lanka's LTTE guerilla forces. The 19-year-old suicide bomber (she was reportedly 17 according to LTTE), Malli (so-called in the film) is the envy of her peers as young women and men alike battle the Indian military, who are occupying Sri Lanka as part of a larger "peace-keeping" effort during India's real-life Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's reformationist rule. Malli uses her Kaiser Soze-like disposition to win a coveted role as the person who will "sacrifice [her] future for the sake of [her] people" by suiciding at the feet of the arriving Prime Minister.
To save the reader from hackneyed, peer-reviewed hyperbole or dittoed parallels with today's (and past) Mideast tensions, I'll simply say Terrorist is a rather subdued, but cogent look at a young (dare I say, impressionable) girl who chooses to become a hero for her cause, to her people, and for her country. Malli's personal awakening, through several flashbacks, makes up a vast majority of the film's content and is appropriately signaled with Malli's proximity to water, in one form or another. The water detail is a major but evident one; and it's played nicely. As a final note, and after a historical comparison, the film does stray a little from actual events but it's a diversion which agrees with me. My guess is that most would agree.
