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List Price: $19.95 | | Label: Merchant Ivory
Salesrank: 48002
Released: January 18, 2005 |
| Our Price: $13.40 |
| Used Price: $12.75 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
India, 1825: the country is being ravaged by the Thugees, cult members also known as "The Deceivers," who commit robbery and ritualistic murder. Appalled by their activities, English Captain William Savage undertakes a hazardous task: in disguise he will infiltrate their ranks. He is at constant risk of betrayal and vengeance and undergoes a disturbing psychological transformation as he experiences the cult's bloodlust firsthand. Starring Pierce Brosnan and stunningly photographed by Walter Lassally, The Deceivers is a gripping adventure—reportedly based on a true story—that charts one man's daring exploits.
The Deceivers - The Merchant Ivory Collection Reviews:
OK, but pretentious, overlong, meandering 
2009-12-24 - Good production values, but here and as usual, these David-Lean-wannabes Merchant & Ivory tend to be pretentious (The Remains of the Day) when not downright pathetic (Le Divorce).
Good photography and a good recreation of the early XIXth century India, but probably is there where all verosimilitude ends. The hollywoodesque daring escape of the hero when surrounded by a multitude of thugs and his last minute rescue by the requisite cavalry regiment; his appropriate delivery of justice by his own hand or the betrayal by an unsuspecting friend indicate that the whole thing was 99% fiction (one Amazon reviewer even reports that the thugs never existed in reality).
You also have to suspend disbelief on the thugs accepting Pierce Brosnan (or any British officer) as one of their own. Let alone the impossibility of avoiding speaking with an accent when talking a foreign language; think of the colour of the skin (at one point, Brosnan is naked before a thug, who notices nothing) or the many cultural details a foreigner cannot possibly know, which could spell disaster any minute.
Many subplots (the seemingly ominous butler, the comrade-on-arms that tries to seduce the hero's wife and turns out to be something else) lead nowhere, suggesting the producers were trying to fill the 98 minutes with anything. Similarly, the film drags for the first twenty minutes until it starts moving.
The story is also handicapped with a tribute to extrasensorial nonsense: "I've seen your husband in my dreams, and he is in danger" says an Indian character, and the wife acts upon that --apparently reliable-- orientalism.
Summing up: the film is good and moderately entertaining, but it could be much better. They could have omitted the "based on a true story part" since probably the only factual bit was that in 1825 there was a country called India, with British soldiers riding around wearing funny hats.
Orientalism and the Thug Cult 
2009-02-01 - "The romance and the fiction of thuggee are seductive, but they are not part of the truth, only serving a European desire for India to be exotic, mysterious and dangerous. It was orientalism, the myth of the east, and surely should have died long ago.".(Kevin Rushby, Children of Kali, 2002).
To see "The Deceivers", having read Rushby's book, that correctly points out how the criminal myth never existed is fascinating. The movie is directly derived from John Master's 1952 novel, which is in its own an engrossing read. So the story is there, complicated, with a moral, or absence of moral and many subplots to explore. The film is a Merchan-Ivory production so the best non-Indian filmography on India that it was possible to get in the 1980's, the actors are all very good because the Brits are played by Brits and the Indians by Indians.
However, it must be seen as an imaginary story and not as the truth. The Thugs as such, a cult based on the goddess Kali never existed. Their existence was invented by the British Raj probably with the intent of repressing banditry in India, and further propagated by the nineteenth century novelist such as Sue, Meadows, Salgari.
The original British soldier on which William Savage, the story's hero is based is William Henry Sleeman a famous "Thug exterminator" of the first part of the nineteenth century, who lived in India for many years and had many Indian bandits jailed and killed.
If you are interested in the Kali cult and love movies, see "Karan Arjun" a Bollywood movie on Kali cult and reincarnation that entertains and makes you touch the essence of this religeous practice.
One point that makes the movie particularly intrigant is the fascination of Willam Savage with the concept of ritual killing, that never really leaves him also at the end of the story. He is like a controlled serial killer, who can live his true nature only outside his "civilization", in the natural environment of the colonial country.
This is a very good movie and an interesting example of "Orientalism" (E.Said). I suggest to view it with some historical backround, a touch of irony and great enjoyment of the characters (especially the Indians), costumes and locations.
Mesmerizing story
2009-01-19 - A truly mesmerizing and gripping story, based on true events. Along with the main character, you will be wondering who to trust.
Great story, awkward film
2006-03-05 - Ismail Merchant's take on the Thugs, his long-cherished dream project The Deceivers, is less successful than Hammer's notorious Stranglers of Bombay despite having more to work with. John Master's novel is a good yarn and Michael Hirst's script is excellent, but Pierce Brosnan isn't a strong enough lead as the Brit (appropriately named Savage) who disguises himself as an Indian to gather evidence on the Thugs only to find that he enjoys killing too much for the good of his soul. Nor is Nicholas Meyer the right director - this needed a bolder widescreen treatment from an old-time sadist like John Guillermin to really catch fire. But it's still an interesting film that holds on the strength of its story, and when it does work, it works extremely well. The surprisingly bleak finale is a definite plus and quite beautifully handled.
Despite the fascinating story of the film's troubled production, the only extra is a trailer. You'll have to try to track down a copy of Hullabaloo in Old Jeypore, Merchant's slightly self-aggrandizing account of his myriad misfortunes during the controversial shoot the film in India - including the company finding themselves locked up at one point - and it's a worthwhile read, even if it should perhaps be subtitled `101 Reasons I'll Never Work With Tim Van Rellim Again.'
A Murderous Cult, A Brave British Officer And A Great Travelogue In India
2005-12-16 - "But if Kali tells you to kill innocent men," says Captain William Savage, "surely she's an evil and wicked goddess." "No, Kali is not evil," says Hussein, his traveling companion and member of the Thugee cult. "Kali is beautiful, more beautiful than any woman. To serve her is to know ecstasy. You will see, you will see."
Captain Savage (Pierce Brosnan) is a British station head in India. It's 1825, when Britain was expanding its rule there through force of will, example and civilized ruthlessness. One night he comes across a horrendous scene, a group of travelers suddenly set upon and mercilessly strangled. He can do nothing but run for his life. He returns the next morning with his Indian troops and insists the area be dug up to find evidence. He finds a ritual burying pit with bodies and skeletons, some fresh and some many years old. Each has been strangled, gutted and with the legs and arms broken so that the corpse will fit into the space a child would take. He learns that the killers are Thugs, followers of Kali, the six-armed goddess of destruction. Although recently married, Savage is determined to disguise himself, track down the sect and destroy it.
This is one of several movies produced by Ismail Merchant and set in India. The look of the movie is first rate. The British sweat in handsome and totally inappropriate wool uniforms; their women dress for dinner each night and maintain British standards in front of the natives. The film was shot in India and makes for a wonderful travelogue. This is an India of crumbling temples and walled palaces, of villages perched on treeless mountains, of beauty and brutality (where elephants are used to execute thieves by walking on them), of acceptance of fate and cruelty.
But is it a good movie? I think it has enough good elements to outweigh its weaknesses. The story relies on the viewer to accept things that are unrealistic...dark makeup on Savage that can last for weeks...his acceptance into the cult of Kali with little suspicion...a melodramatic emotional crisis where he may be becoming more of a Thugee himself, as well as several plot threads that seem to pop up without much preparation. The climax, for me, is disjointed with more going on than might be needed. On the plus side is Brosnan's performance. He plays it straight, without a hint of the knowing self-awareness that he developed into what appears to be his permanent style. The Indian actors who make up most of the cast are excellent, particularly Saeed Jaffrey as Hussein, a Thugee who considers himself already dead and agrees to help Savage. Keith Michell, as Savage's commanding officer and father of Savage's new bride, does a nice job as a brisk and authoritative colonel. And the movie looks great -- the production style, the costumes, the manners, the whole British-in-India dynamic. I think The Deceivers, on balance, is a film worth seeing if you're willing to take it for what it is, a better-than-average adventure matched to an interesting time and place in India.
The DVD picture is good, although a little on the soft side with some grain. There are no extras.
