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| Sunday, 09 March 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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'Flying with one wing' (Thani thatuwen piyambanna) The tragedy of the cultured woman I name her, as the "little bird". She is the protagonist of
the film "Flying With One Wing". She is the little bird who
tries to fly with one wing. She reveals in front of us the tragedy of the
typical Sri Lankan According to my view, it is the unfortunate destiny of this cultural woman that is being discussed by Asoka Handagama in his film "Flying With One Wing". The little bird decided to dress in men's clothes not because she hated being a female. She changed her looks merely because of her hatred of men. Although she had roused and nourished the male spirit in herself, she is a "woman" in the real sense of the word. The 'little bird sympathises with the woman - next - door who serves her husband when he is eating greedily and who washes a heap of linen at the tap by the side of the road. She sympathises with the young lass whose youth had been caged by her father. She sympathises with, (rather self-sympathy) the young girls who are being dragged by their "lovers" to the doctor for abortions in ignorance of their cries of fear. Although the 'little bird' yells at her wife on returning home from work in order to exhibit her acquired manhood, the next moment her suddenly aroused womanhood sympathises deeply with the womanhood of 'her' wife. It is this womanhood of the 'little bird' that offers 'her' wife to wash a heap of linen and suggests that the wife should watch the foot-ball match instead. Isn't it only in a woman's mind that such a sympathy for womankind is created. The womanhood of the 'little bird' differs very little from the other women. The only private world in which she can taste her womanhood is the bathroom. It is only in the bathroom that she can take off her men's clothes and make herself naked. The 'little bird' naturally has the female desires for jewellery, lipstick and a dress which exhibits the curves of her female body. Yet, when I saw the innocent attempt of the 'little bird' to imprison those desires in the bathroom, I sensed a feeling of hatred towards mankind as well as self-sympathy. When the fingers of the young man who tries to become the homosexual companion of the 'little bird' touches her hand, the female desire hidden in her which are not satisfied through her wife are exhibited in her eyes. It is hoped that the hidden womanhood is exhibited on her face when he declares his love to her. The fear in her face when she sees the naked bodies of men who were bathing show us the helplessness of women. According to my view, the climax of that helplessness is when the 'little bird' kills the doctor who reveals to the world that she is a real woman. The masculine strength which comes up in every woman at least once in a while helped her to kill the doctor. While discussing the unsuccessful attempt of the woman to protect herself from greedy looking men. Handagame also creates a picture of the evilness of "man" trying to crush the woman. The garage owner tries to get his private secretary. The doctor tries to have the 'little bird'. How mercilessly men try to take revenge when they are unable to get what they want. The garage owner does not hesitate to dismiss the secretary who refuses to be his mistress. The doctor takes vengeance from the 'little bird' by revealing her secret to the whole world, when she refuses to love him. Both these men symbolise the typical "man" who attempts to get off a woman who refuses him. The man who refuses the female body which are freely available to him, the man who tries to get the difficult - women and the man who desires the "womanhood" rather than her beauty. Although the doctor touches the abdomen of beautiful women daily, he desires for the 'little bird'. Although she is hiding her female form with men's attire, the doctor is attracted to her because he becomes aware that she is a biological woman. Other than that the 'little bird' did not have any female elegance to create any desire in the doctor. Would be desire her if he did not become aware that she was a woman? The only rationale for him to desire her is the fact that she was born a female. How sensitively Handagama tells us that the major challenge for the whole of woman kind - is the cruelty of the "man". The little girl, who keeps smiling when her mother complains to the doctor that she has slept with her step-father faces this challenge. It is this challenge which has been faced by the middle-aged woman who asks the doctor for an injection to become a man. The little girl who has drawn a moustache on her face and is looking to the future will one day face the same challenge in the future. I have seen nobody better than Handagama who has sensitively pictured this eternal conflict between a helpless woman and the cruelty of man. Handagama tells us that a woman cannot fly with one wing, how ever much she attempts to and that men are always rising against her, creating a deep pain inside her about her womanhood. Praneetha Abeywickrama, |
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"cultured woman", who is more helpless than
the "biological woman". The tasks apportioned to the biological
woman being limited to giving birth and breast-feeding them, the woman is
bound with the enormous tasks of waiting for her husband to return home
from work, taking his bag into her hand, washing, not going out while the
husband is not in. It is this cultural woman who has to dress in men's
attire to protect herself from men. She has to find at least a woman
dressed in men's clothes; if not a man, to go out with fear. It is this
cultural woman who has to seek the help of one man in order to kill the
unborn child another man has fathered.
