A 'WARRIOR' QUEST OF ANCIENT INDIA.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

'THE WARRIOR'S'' British director, Asif Kapadia, refers to his first feature film as an Eastern. This tale of a Rajput fighter's crisis of conscience is definitely that. Set long, long ago and filmed in the searing desert of Rajasthan and the snowy Himalayas, it's an Indian distillation of ideas drawn from hundreds of samurai and cowboy movies.

Despite its unique elements and eye-popping landscapes, though, ``Warrior'' feels a little too distilled. For all its primal power, the story seems familiar. Kapadia's nongraphic way of staging violent action gets the point across without feeling quaint, but it fails to generate ``Braveheart''-style excitement (or ``Seven Samurai'' quality). And there is a lot of long, slow trekking across the sand that makes for some lovely pictures of dunes but tends to bore.

That acknowledged, ``Warrior'' is just as often engaging and suspenseful, and never less than thoughtful. Working in his ancestral homeland with a mostly amateur, local cast, Kapadia proves himself a talented all-around filmmaker.

The story, co-written by the director and Tim Miller, could not be any more basic. Lafcadia (Irfan Khan) lives in a desert shack with his tween son Katiba (Puru Chhibber), whom he is lovingly teaching the traditional ways of the Rajput warrior. Lafcadia works for the greedy local warlord; his job is to behead peasants and destroy their villages when they don't pony up a big enough share of their crops.

Lafcadia has a mystical epiphany during one such raid and vows never to lift a sword again. His cruel boss views this as betrayal and orders Lafcadia's closest comrade Biswas (Aino Annuddin) to kill him. A different kind of tragedy occurs, and Lafcadia sets out alone for the mountain village he came from. Along the way, and with shades of ``The Outlaw Josey Wales,'' he attracts a kind of ad hoc, surrogate family. The main member is an adolescent thief (played quite effectively by a real homeless boy, Noor Mani, that Kapadia found in Bombay) whose own parents were killed by warriors like Lafcadia.

As the film moves from treeless wastelands and dusty towns to forested hillsides, glaciers and restorative lakes, ``The Warrior'' increasingly becomes a tale told by natural symbolism. In that way, Kapadia definitely rises above the kind of generic storytelling we've seen so often from other parts of the world.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

THE WARRIOR - Two and one half stars

(R: violence, children in jeopardy)

Starring: Irfan Khan, Noor Mani, Aino Annuddin, Puru Chhibber

Director: Asif Kapadia.

Running time: 1 hr. 28 min.

Playing: Arclight, Hollywood; Laemmle Royal, West L.A.

In a nutshell: Stunning-looking, somewhat too simple tale of a warrior in ancient India whose decision to give up his sword leads to dire consequences. In Hindi with English subtitles.