IFFK 2008 Day 3 – Night

The Mindset of a Terrorist

The Rider Named Death, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov, is a movie about terrorism. The fundamental question the film raises is how the political killing differs from personal killings in the context of terrorist activities in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. It is based on a book called The Pale Horse.

The protagonist of the movie is a communist terrorist (should it be naxalite or revolutionary for political correctness?), who fights against the tsars and their dukes. The whole movie is narrated from his point of view. His primary aim is to kill a duke. Along with some followers, he makes several futile attempts to kill the duke. In between they also discuss their anxieties and doubts about killing a person. Finally he does manage to kill the duke. But the question of morality of killing continues to haunt him.

The film sheds light into the psychology of terrorists. It quite rightly predicts that governments cannot contain terrorism, because terrorism is the attack of a few individuals against the government.

The film starts with a bang. A stunningly beautiful lady walks into the office of a duke (after getting permission, of course). Most of the delegates would have expected them to make love. Instead, she takes a gun and shoots him, bang bang.

Before the start of the movie, the director Karen Shakhnazarov gave an introduction to the movie. He made reference to the Mumbai terrorist attack also.