Movie

Exhuming some redeeming qualities of Sinhala cinema

A lotus pond at its surface is a pure, uncontaminated thing - a mirror to the superficial beauty that lies above; but what lies beneath is the irony, the colourless muck in which all that beauty is steeped.

And so it is with life, as Satyajit Maitipe’s 2004 film which has taken a decade to see the sunlight, reminds us with vivid acuity. Though his characters are, I’ll admit, not unconventional, that in itself is what is so arresting, that the situation is so extraordinarily ordinary –it is about ordinary people, in not unlikely situations, and there are no frills, no shallow thematic wish-wash, albeit not so insipid dialogue between sentient characters, but it is the farthest thing from an ordinary film.

In a time where cinema is multifaceted, there is a tendency for some movies to apparently be sculpted with the sole intention of winning its creators accolades and then being shelved unceremoniously and too soon only to be discussed in hushed whispers by people who only pretend to understand the half of it.

Unlike with other movies of this genus where most of the content is misplaced in a futile attempt to salvage a sense of artiness, what I liked most about Maitipe’s work was that it did not lose itself in melodramatic interludes or vague, ambiguous undertones that lack narrative. He breaks through the subconsciously-acknowledged norm that award winning movies and plots with narrative are mutually exclusive. In fact the movie’s winning spark is in how relatable the story is.

You don’t have to be a rural, working-class girl in a garment factory to be able to relate to the universal themes that are so skilfully interwoven into a magnificent tapestry. This is a coming of age story that is largely based on the history and evolution of its characters.

Love and lust

It is about love lost and found and perhaps the other way around, it’s about lust and sexual discovery and the evolution of human understanding. It is not about people who are completely good against people who are completely bad, but it is an allusion to the reality that people are not always completely predictably black or white and bad things can happen to good people and good people can make bad choices. In layman’s terms this movie welcomes you to the grey human condition. It is also about not hiding South-East Asian sexuality by a veil as if it does not exist but it explores the fact that sexual desires are universally mutual. It is, in a large way, a movie about self-realisation, and I do not doubt you will surprise yourself by some reminders-to-self. I know I did.

Maitipe succeeds as a phenomenal storyteller, and as the late great Dr. Tissa Abeysekara once said to me, to be a good moviemaker you must have the heart of a storyteller. Maitipe is a storyteller and a good one at that. This is a Buddhist Parable in Three Parts and the more I tried to understand what this meant the further the definition seemed to run away.

However, as a Christian, allow me to say that in my understanding the subtext of the movie carried religious, moral and ethical themes of a universal nature. It reminds you not to judge, that people are flawed but each in his own way and that redemption can be found even in falling. I do not want to dwell too much on the characters or the story because I don’t want a spoiler alert to stop you from a trip to the cinema to actually watch this movie, because I implore you, go and watch it. However, I will say this: this is a story largely focused on the lives of little people and the impact of these little people on each other and how it sets in motion a butterfly effect of events of titanic proportion - well, of titanic proportions in the small world of these people; and the casting is perfect to at.

Believable acting

The acting that is almost too natural makes you empathise with the characters more, because it is believable - not something you can easily find in Sinhala cinema. Each character has a definitive personality or qualities that are almost tangible. And real, so real - there is nothing affected about these characters or the actors portraying them and as an avid cinema-goer, I was so grateful for that. Kaushalya Fernando stands out as the main protagonist and as an exceptional actress. She is no stranger to the silver screen now but ten years ago she would have been a more familiar face on stage at the theatre as opposed to on screen, but allow me to say, that as a fan and a friend, I was very pleasantly awed by the performance of by far one of the finest actresses our generation has known and greatly proud of the finesse with which she articulated the sentiments of this withdrawn, hard-working, self-pitying factory worker who despite many a bad decision, we fail to judge because of the innocence and loneliness that is so clearly present in her persona.

If there is anything to criticise it would be that it should have first been screened ten years ago. That is when it was first made. This is a film that is not entirely time-appropriate or current in its employment of technological aspects. We have, unfortunately for Maitipe, come very far (or a fair distance at least, although there are miles of improvement left) since then where technological advancements in cinema are concerned, but this does not in any way make this any less a film of epic and timeless proportions. A movie cannot solely depend on cinematographic perfection and thank the gods for that.

Audience reaction

The success of this movie unfortunately or fortunately depends on its audiences - it’s too soon to say which because it is still in its infancy since release, and much of its success will say a lot more about the modern day Sri Lankan as opposed to about the movie, because depending on its success (which it largely deserves), we will see if we have a mature audience for Sri Lankan cinema, or if we are still subdued by societal norms that declare sexual innuendos or young love and self-discovery taboo subjects and reality too heavy a theme to handle.

Sri Lankan cinema still largely depends on slapstick comedy or black and white characters that have very little ambition beyond acquiring commercial success, and because of that I worry. But if it does succeed at the box office then I believe we have resurrected a fighting chance for the future of cinema in this island.

Bora Diya Pokuna is exactly that: a lotus pond with two sides above and below the surface that reminds us to re-evaluate everything we know about life, about what we understand and what we assume about others and mostly ourselves. It is so beautifully melancholy like, allow me to use an overused cliché here, a rainy day - it hovers over you like a shroud of grey cloud long after you have left the cinema hall and walked yourself (or driven) home.

Reviewed by Svetlana Abeysekara.