Indian Reviews Reviews

Film Review: The Winter Within (2022) by Aamir Bashir

"Go back to your village"

Second feature for Kashmiri , “” sheds a horrifying but also quite realistic light on the circumstances of people living in the particular area, where small and big skirmishes and terrorist activities occur frequently due to the long conflict between India and Pakistan, as well as the border dispute with China.

The Winter Within Screened at Busan International Film Festival

As the film begins, Nargis is working as domestic help for a rich household. She is not particularly good at her job, since her actual purpose of being in the area is to find what happened to her husband Manzoor, who was arrested after he joined the armed rebellion. A local policeman asks for money for information, but he proves a fraud, while, as soon as her employer learns that her husband is a militant, she fires her. Thus begins the second part of the movie, with Nargis returning to her hometown in Kashmir, where she finds herself face to face with a new set of problems, including financial ones and the prejudice revolving around single-women. Yaseen, a young man from the village, helps her as much as he can, obviously having feelings for her, but eventually her husband reappears. The situation becomes even more complicated since Manzoor is just a shell of himself, while the Indian army is not exactly done with him. Yaseen, however, keeps helping. 

Focusing intently on his protagonist, Bashir makes a number of social and political comments regarding the situation in Kashmir, but he does not stop there, as he also focuses on the hardships women face in the country, particularly when they are without husband, and even more so when they find themselves having relations with a revolutionary. The way the harsh circumstances in the area, where the army breaks into houses into the night to kidnap people and danger seems to lurk in every corner, are combined with the situations women face and the love triangle that is eventually shaped, is one of the best aspects of the movie. 

Also of note here is the way Bashir deals with violence, which permeates the narrative, but is not actually depicted, apart from a few very brief scenes, but instead implied or even described with words, as in the rather shocking doctor scene. The approach works quite well for the film, as the consequences of what is happening are still eloquently presented, also through the way the people there tiptoe the whole of their life, without any kind of “glorification” of violence for entertainment. On the other hand, the torture scene in the office of the man in charge of the army in the area, could have been handled a lot better, since the whole thing ends up being quite awkward instead of shocking. 

On a last narrative element, the way Manzoor's life is ruined and continues to get even more ruined, highlights the consequences revolutionaries face in the area, with the impact of his brokenness being quite significant. This aspect owes a lot to the convincing performance of , who thrives particularly in his silences. as Nargis is essentially the face of the movie, as exhibited quite eloquently in the finale, and is a treat to watch throughout, with the moments she loses her temper being particularly memorable, as much as her inner struggle regarding her relationship with the two men. 

Shanker Raman's cinematography captures the bleakness of the constantly cold and snowy setting of Kashmir in the best fashion, with the impressive greens and overall framing in the scenes inside the house being particularly impressive. Shan Mohammed's editing results in a slow pace that mirrors the rhythm of life in the area, in a fitting approach for the narrative. The transition from the first to the second part could have been handled better though, while some issues with the pacing, particularly regarding the timeline, do exist. 

“The Winter Within” has its issues, but in general, emerges as a very appealing film, particularly for the acting and the cinematography, but also for the whole directorial approach regarding its comments. 

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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