Bandit Queen (1994)

A lower caste girl (Seema Biswas) in rural India's patriarchal society is "married" at age 11 and repeatedly raped and brutalized. She finds her freedom only as an avenging bandit warrior. Based on the non-fiction book BANDIT QUEEN: THE TRUE STORY OF PHOOLAN DEVI by Mala Sen and directed by Shekar Kapur (ELIZABETH). Beginning in 1968, the film documents the horrific but true story of Phoolan Devi who went from abused child bride to rape victim (several times) and eventually became a sort of national heroine after becoming the head of a gang of bandits and a sort of female Robin Hood. After serving 11 years in prison, she became a member of the Indian Parliament before being assassinated in 2001. It's a fascinating story, almost impossible to believe. It's a difficult watch and why wouldn't it be? Almost two hours watching a girl/woman repeatedly raped and physically abused, it gets to the point where you want to cry out, "Enough!". Yet one can't deny its potency as it focuses its eyes on India's class/caste system and its patriarchal dismissive attitude of women who are the chattel of its men. With Nirmal Pandey, Saurabh Shukla and Aditya Srivastava.