Born a lower-caste girl in rural India's patriarchal society, "married" at 11, repeatedly raped and brutalized, Phoolan Devi finds freedom only as an avenging warrior, the eponymous Bandit Queen. Devi becomes a kind a bloody Robin Hood; this extraordinary biographical film offers both a vivid portrait of a driven woman and a savage critique of the society that made her.

A woman, attended by two midwives, is giving birth in a small village in India. When the child's cry rings, the father bangs on a steel plate to attract the attention of all the villagers, ...