Montage - Cultural paradigm | Sundayobserver.lk

Athula Liyanage's maiden directorial venture Bambara Wallala (Whirlwind) sheds light on the dark recesses of contemporary milieu. Although a psychiatrist may interpret the entire film as 'a cinematic expedition into the darkest depths', Bambara Wallala in its entirety is a cinematic expedition into the dark side of the milieu at one level and into the dark side of the human psyche at another level.

The hapless generation including the main characters of the film Podi Eka and Mal are mere porns caught up in a whirlwind in a matrix of relationships from which they could not escape. They are born into a milieu which is dominated by deprivations and what the socio-economic set up offers them is a life of little or no choices. The filmmaker, from the very first frame, uses sets of symbols to suggest what is in store for the audience. The dark frame gradually turns into a back of an old lorry carrying buffaloes to the butchery.

Then, Podi Eka (Sacheen Chaturanga) is seen drawing water in a plastic can to his uncle's Chena cultivation. Slow moving yet powerful footages establish the harsh conditions of life in which the main character Podi Eka grows up. Due to abject poverty Podi Eka is deprived of any formal education and remains illiterate throughout his life. His childhood is deeply disturbed by turbulent events; crazy mother, uncle who rapes his sister leading to her suicide and his killing the uncle. Podi Eka draws crosses on the wattle and doub walls of the hut and the numbers of crosses are equal to his family members. Although crosses are signs of ignorance, the filmmaker uses them for different purposes; to suggest Podi Eka's mother's hysterical state of mind and to recall the turbulent past.

However, the story enters into a violent phase with the arrival of Podi Eka in the village as an adult after spending his childhood in prison. As his process of socialisation has been disturbed, Podi Eka expresses raw emotions. For instance, his expression of love is crude and when his cousin insults him, he cuts off her hair. While his uncle's family flees from the village in fear of life apparently setting fire to Podi Eka's mother's hut, Podi Eka has been attacked by an unidentified gang. Mal who runs a funeral parlour takes injured Podi Eka on the road, to the hospital. Although seen, at first, as a Good Samaritan, Mal has his own hidden agenda in recruiting Podi Eka as his trusted guardian at his funeral parlour. Mal (Brilliantly portrayed by Mahendra Perera) exploits people. However, the filmmaker is careful not to depict Mal as a personification of dark forces.

Mal often helps out people who come to his funeral parlour with empty hands. At the same time, he mercilessly exploits people for his business. For him, his old servants are like porns in a power play with business rivals. Under Mal's command able bodied Podi Eka turns into an expert gunman who kills Mal's rivals in business. At the end Podi Eka outwits Mal and becomes the undisputed owner of the funeral parlour. He turns tables on Mal by executing his own plot, killing Mal and burning his body in the pyre which Mal prepared to burn Podi Eka's body.

Principally, Athula Liyanage develops two characters in Bambara Wallala (Whirlwind); Podi Eka, hero of the film and Mal, apparent villain. The rest of the characters are mainly used to establish circumstances or to highlight traits of the two characters. For instance, Podi Eka's mother and village establishes the turbulent past in which Podi Eka grew up.

At one level, Podi Eka represents a marginalised segment of the population who eke out a hand to mouth living in a hostile socio-economic set up and at another level he represents the dark side of human psyche. Since he is not educated, his emotions are raw and those emotions are not governed by the dictates of the civilisation.

Mal is a complex character who makes a living out of others' death. He exploits people and their hapless situation to run his funeral parlor. He also helps out those who are in distress and those who came to his funeral parlour with empty hands. Towards the end, Mal is found nearly bankrupt partly due to his generosity and partly due to his mismanagement of the business with outstanding bank loans. Though not evolved, Jine who tries to secure his position in the business is also an important character as far as the plot is concerned. He is Mal's trusted and old servant who has been jealous of newcomers such as Podi Eka. However, when Podi Eka turns up at the pyre with Mal's body, Jine respects him and accepts him as the new owner of the funeral parlour.

The character of Podi Eka's mother (Nita Fernando) has not been developed thereby discarding an opportunity to highlight an important development in Podi Eka's life. It is noted for prototype such roles played by Nita and overacting marred its authenticity. At some instances, Podi Eka also overacts, making those instances rather artificial. For instances, Podi Eka cries as a child over the killing of his pet buffalo. The filmmaker seems, at times, lost in action packed scenes which could have been reduced to a minimum.

The purpose of the filmmaker is not clear. He has touched on so many themes and sub-themes that he could hardly have developed any of them. At best, Bambara Wallala (Whirlwind) is a glance at the dark side of the contemporary milieu. However, due to the sheer volume of social issues that the filmmaker tries to deal with, the film can be read from diverse perspectives. For instance, it can be an 'expedition into the darkest depth' from a perspective of a clinical psychiatrist. In terms of cinematography, the filmmaker shows that he has mastered the craft albeit being a young filmmaker. As Damitha Abeyratne, Jayalath Manoratne and Nita Fernando play their usual prototype roles, they could not contribute much to enrich the film.

Idealising physique against social body

By Ajith GALAPPATHTHI

Translated by Ranga Chandrarathne

Society compells man to live in a world which is confronted with ups and downs and he or she has to live just because he or she was born into the world under different circumstances like a dancer. However, it is only a skillful dancer who could control currents to his whims and fancies. The worries and happiness come in life like a group of swarm; it seems that the filmmaker wants to epitomise the theme of the film in 'Bambara Walla (Whirlwind)' and to make it a symbol.

The film commences with a black frame. This is followed by a crying of a she-buffalo creating a mystic and eerie atmosphere of gloom and wretchedness.

From the very first frame the filmmaker shifts his camera from darkness to darkness; the driver of the lorry carrying buffaloes to butchery opens the rear door and shuts it up again.

Thereby the filmmaker stresses that the audience should spend the rest of time with buffaloes in a gloomy place similar to that of the dark space in the lorry. So the film commences with such an array of frames.

The buffalo calf stays in the wild while the lorry carries the mother buffalo to the butchery in the city. In the latter part of the film, it shows how the buffalo cub grows up and finds its way into the butchery. It suggests the destiny of Podi Eka (Athula Liyanage) who also grows up like a buffalo just because he was born into the world and has to lead a life.

It is the men and women who struggle to lead a life, decide the destiny of both the buffalo calf and Podi Eka. At first Podi Eka is depicted as a potent symbol.

Podi Eka is an innocent and passive character: like a buffalo calf which is not worth killing. But the adults know that they can get Podi Eka to work when he is grown up in physique. Adults' society is a kind of butchery.

One makes life out of others' death. It is the belief of the 'modern society' to live by killing others and retaining power by various means. Collapse of Podi Eka's family in such a society is depicted as an inevitable outcome. It is one of the areas that the film touches on.

Family is a group one belongs to and interacts with and which is bound by blood relationship. The police jeep which comes along the same road the lorry carrying buffaloes went in, takes Podi Eka and imprisons him in a darkroom. In the prison, Podi Eka grows up only in physique and becomes a solipsist as he is not aware of social behaviour. Podi Eka similar to a buffalo in the film is not a conscious social being.

He is stripped of his rights to live in a society as a fully-fledged member who subconsciously struggles for upward social mobility.

Podi Eka is drawn to a herd of buffaloes and the filmmaker tries to take him from the world of loin cloth clad men and women to a world dominated by denim clad men and women. The filmmaker powerfully depicts the shark reality of human relationships in the modern social setup. Making a man a buffalo and making the buffalo a hero is an example for group behaviour. Man's behaviour is determined by the group he or she associates with. Even animals' behaviours have been influenced by the herd. Podi Eka associates with lumpen elements in society.

Podi Eka bathes in the company buffaloes and the long shot suggests that the close association between Podi Eka and buffaloes. Podi Eka, who ties up the man who killed his buffalo and mercilessly beats him up and cries as a child, lives like a buffalo. However, over depiction of such emotional outbursts has resulted in not depicting the disturbed state of mind of Podi Eka and the socio-economic background which leads to it. In the beginning the filmmaker wants to depict the complex state of mind of Podi Eka resulted from anxiety he experienced in childhood when he was separated from his mother and emotional immaturity in his adult life. However, the room for such an exploration has been taken over by a series of action packed events and killings.

One who has been in the field tries to put all what he has learnt into the film. The plot is rich with incidents and characters which allow the filmmaker to explore deep into the human psyche. The narration and cinematography is impressive. His technical acumen has also been established by some frames. However, all the positive features will not provide excuses in appreciating a film.

At last, Athula Liyanage has become a filmmaker. Podi Eka who was trampled down by all has also become a hero. He wins the traditional tilling competition and easily guns down mighty enemies. The footage where the smoke of gun shots converts into fumes emanating from the mastermind's cigarette is very effective. The lonely hero plays cards with himself. Ultimately the weak becomes strong on the basis of physical strength. Podi Eka's powerful physique determines his ability to achieve his objectives.

In a way, it is contradictory. The focus of the filmmaker seems to be the social value imposed on Podi Eka rather than his physical strength. However, what idealises here is Podi Eka's physique. Mal dresses up the physical body but not the social body which controls physical body. The socio-economic values concentrated on the physical body have been depicted as cultural embodiment. Attention of the filmmaker has not sufficiently paid on to this aspect. If the mind over matter is depicted, social body would be more important than the physical body. Podi Eka's character evolves as someone with an immature mind. However, Podi Eka is a social creation. Podi Eka becomes a gunman because of pressure exerted on him by society. This action-packed scenes appeal to the audience.

The film assumes action thriller's characteristic from the point where Podi Eka was beaten up by an unidentified gang and left on the road, series of murders, threatening. Avoiding arrest by putting Podi Eka on a coffin and taking him into a hideout, marries him soliciting his support for a bank robbery and Jine's silent threatening add Sri Lankan flavour to the action thriller. Jine who secures his position in a whirlwind of power play is a powerful character with flesh and blood.

The film should have been ended at the point when Jine was amazed by the sight of Podi Eka alive at the pyre. Jine was expecting Mal to bring Podi Eka's body to the pyre. If the whirlwind is an action film, it is appropriate to take the narration beyond that point.

But there is no need to show guns and knives for murders. One of the cheap tactics of Tamil movies is to get police officers to ridicule the law. Dharmadasa or Podi Eka has been released from the prison as a criminal. Here the portion where the two marriage certificates were shown and marriage is registered inside the funeral parlour is a very effective instance where law is criticised. Editing is noted for instances such as those where childhood and youth of Podi Eka is summarised. However, editing would not be useful when the film assumes feature of an action movie. Powerful cinematography is in the first part of the film; Podi Eka seeing a mysterious woman in a mysterious house close up of the bullet on Podi Eka's palm and the frame in which Mal signals the weapon to be used is a very powerful image. Such images and footages suggest that the filmmaker has mastered his craft.

Some of the areas have not been explored. For instance, the relationship between mother and son should have been explored more. Four women associate with Podi Eka; Sister, mother and girlfriend and wife. Is it because of anxiety towards his mother that Podi Eka maintains somewhat restrained relationship with his girlfriend and later with his wife? It could have been a powerful theme in the film.

Filmmaker could have explored Podi Eka's complex state of mind with anxiety fixation. Mother's madness confined to a dialogue is not sufficient; son lamenting before Mal in the funeral parlour over his mother’s death and conversation taking place before Podi Eka. The depiction of female characters such as mother, sister and wife shows the tragic reality of woman.

Woman is subject to harassment at the hand of man. She has to commit suicide. Uncle's sister abandons the village with the family in fear for life. Kumari who becomes a prisoner of Mal has been turned into a deaf woman. Damita has depicted the same characters in other films, her role becomes prototype in the movie. Nita Fernado's role as mother should have been evolved and the filmmaker falls into trouble by prematurely killing the character.

Some of the dialogues of Podi Eka are inconsistent with his background and education. It becomes natural as the audience is not familiar with such characters. Mahendra Perera portrays brilliantly as Mal and his make up is appropriate with the gloomy character. Depicting his face as that of an embalmed body intensifies dark features of the character. Sriyantha Menis's is noted for natural acting. Damitha and Jayalath Manoratne's acting is prototype.

Confronting the dark side

Idealising physique against social body