Children of War

Children of War (2014)

My Ratings: 4/5

Children of War is one of the most sincere films I have seen in the recent times.

I won’t recommend this film for children or even adults with weak hearts since Children of War showcases some of the most visually disturbing images of rape, torture and genocide ever seen in Indian Cinema.

But most importantly Children of War voices the truth.

The film successfully recreates the horrific crimes orchestrated by Pakistan over the Bangladeshi (Bengali) people in the pre-independence era of Bangladesh in 1971.

For nine months the common people of Bangladesh (then-East Pakistan) were tortured and denied of their rights to form a separate democratic country. Surprisingly the world turned a blind eye to this genocide until India took it personally and overpowered the Pakistani troops (in more sophisticated words: kicked their asses big time) along with the help of Bangladeshi resistance force (Mukti Bahini).

Children of War makes us revisit those horrific pages of history and acknowledge the sufferings of those innocent lives of Bengali people lost in the battle for the independence of Bangladesh.

The film has a soul of its own that connects to you – hats off to the first-time director Mrityunjay Devvrat for making Children of War so real.

Indraneil Sengupta, Raima Sen, Tilotama Shome, Victor Banerjee, Farooq Sheikh – all did a good job but the man who steals the show is the evil Pakistani commander Pavan Malhotra – brilliantly wicked.

In the film Malik (Pavan Malhotra) who is in charge of a Pakistani war camp believes that if enough Bangladeshi girls (war prisoners) are raped and made to bear Pakistani children then the idea of revolution for their separate country will eventually die down. So under his observation women of all ages who are dumped in that war camp are routinely raped and tortured till they become pregnant with the so called ‘children of war’.

We also experience the story of a brother (Riddhi Sen) and sister (Rucha Inamdar) who has lost everything of their own including their parents – their only aim is to reach India where they can be safe. But can they survive till the end of their journey?

On the other hand there is the journalist (Indraneil Sengupta) who is forced to take up a gun instead of his pen to fight back against the injustice and also to search his wife (Raima Sen) who is imprisoned in the war camp of Malik.

The film tells us such tales of intolerable human suffering that somehow make us feel guilty – guilty of being proud of our over-glorified human existence.

Children of war is a film everyone should watch – not only because it’s a very well-made film but also to have a better understanding of the world history.

And then you only wish that history doesn’t repeat itself … ever.

Film trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3xWa-pBtdQ

 

 

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