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| Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
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Editorial
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Guerilla Marketing : A reflection of ourselves by Ranga Kamaladasa
There have been a lot of interpretations of Jayantha Chandrasiri's film Guerilla Marketing. Some say it's a representation of Jayantha's own life. Some say it's a film on advertising and politics. Some say it's a story of love. Some believe it to be a nationalist film revealing the impact of the free economy on their most beloved Sinhala heritage. For others it's nothing more than a story of a plain old psychopath. As usual in his film Jayantha has left us with many intriguing aspects to think about. And like his last film Agni Dahaya, all the turmoil and complexities inside the film brings the spectator to a point where it's hard to define what is really expressed by all this. Ajith Galapaththi in his review to Ravaya and Irudina argues that the film's main character Thisara is and has always been a mental patient. Therefore he argues that anything done by him is purely because of his state of mind. Thus he classifies that there is no actual story in the film; the film is about someone with a mental illness falling sick once again. True. Thisara has been diagnosed once with Schizophrenia, a mental illness which causes the patient to lose his grip on fantasy and reality, and the story is about him getting sick again. But is that all? Is it not a film where a highly creative and ambiguous man who tries so hard to reach the top of his career, fall down because of his ever-present conscience haunting him; saying to him that what he did was wrong? Is it not a film that reflects the true nature of politics and advertising, showing the inner agendas of both these phenomenon; power and money? The answer actually lies in a place you'd never expect to find it. In the love triangle between Thisara, Suramya, and Rangi. Thisara and Suramya share a beautiful past. They shared their childhood together in the village. Thisara learned dancing from Suramya's father who is no other than Thisara's own uncle. It was a love affair between nana and massina. They went to school together. They went to University together. They shared so many beautiful memories and a love that was so pure that, you sometimes get the idea that it's an ideal love. The stuff that fairy tales are made of. Indeed, even Thisara's psychiatrist claims he hadn't believed a love like this could exist. But all of a sudden Suramya goes abroad for higher studies and Thisara marries a girl called Rangi. Rangi is a typical girl you find in Colombo. Always charming with her ever smiling face, and with her heartening atmosphere that always seem to surround her. Her dress code is that of a typical Colombo woman; never wearing a sari, but always having a sense of style as well as wearing makeup and adorning her face with lipstick and so on. In truth, Suramya is Thisara's ideal girl. The girl of his fantasy. Rangi on the other hand, is his reality. The one he chose to share his life with. This is one of the most powerful messages Jayantha tries to convey in his film. We live in a twisted world. A world where we have woven a web of deception around ourselves. We idealize a fantasy, but we never live in it. On the contrary, we live in a world which is exactly the opposite of it. We admire the village life. The simplicity and serenity inherent in it. But we live in the city. As Buddhists we idealize to attain Enlightenment. But we wish for that only after all the comforts of the lifetimes we spend as humans and gods. (Devu-minis sapa kelwara nivan dakimu) Thisara is a perfect portrait of this typical Sri Lankan. After getting well at the end of the film Thisara receives a call from Suramya, who has gone abroad. Rangi insists that he talk to her. But Thisara declines. Instead, he visualizes Suramya and his father in his head. They will always be there with him. Suramya is not his reality, she's only the fantasy that helps him to set it aside. Therefore he is not ready to deal with her in person. Rather he's comfortable in treasuring her in his own secluded mind. The film deals with another manifestation of this deceptionist culture. Thisara is the one who crowns Gregory Mahadikaram as president. His advertising strategies pave the way for this sinister creature to gain power. Because of this Thisara falls ill again. Since Thisara is already a patient who suffered from Schizophrenia why does Jayantha wish to relate this with an already existing mentality? The reason is again simple; only an insane man wouldn't be able to cope up with this duality of Gregory Mahadikaram. A normal person in this society would easily rationalize (how irrational the logic may be) and trick his or her conscience into believing that Gregory Mahadikaram is doing the right thing. Just look at the real people around you and count how many of them 'rationalize' in this way to do things which are plain unjustifiable. They're capable of balancing their split personalities in a way that doesn't hinder their conscience in the real world. But Thisara is an insane person. He's not capable of doing that. He falls into a sweet madness in which his ideal love and her father become the exorcists of Gregory. In this nightmare of Thisara's, Jayantha has tried to express more harshly the duality of Thisara's fantasy and real life. He's tried to bring out Thisara's concept of Suramya being his unwanted pest in reality and his one and only saviour in his fantasy life. This sort of falls in tune with the fact that our society is always fantasizing for someone to come forth, a knight in shining armour, to condemn all evil and to start doing good. Whether it be a Diyasena kumaraya, Jesus, or a 'kind' dictator who will banish all evil and establish peace and prosperity to the nation; until then it's no use fighting alone! Compared to Jayantha's other films, the screenplay, and the choreography of the film definitely lacked in capturing the audience. The subtleness and contradictory theme may have added to that as well, but the film definitely leaves us with something to think about. As Jayantha vividly discloses the tragedy of contemporary Sri Lanka, he shows us the illusionary states our mind will create to harbour the split personality we have in reality. In the end of the film he doesn't give an answer to the problem but ponders on, leaving Thisara (representing our own souls) cured, naked and open yet again to a society filled with deception... Million Dollar Baby : real issues involved in boxing by Rohan Canagasabey A million dollars for winning a boxing title! That is the goal of a female boxer in the film Million Dollar Baby produced and directed by Clint Eastwood.
However, this is not a film about only the glories of boxing, but also of the very real issues involved in boxing that Hollywood movies don't usually portray, but which received recognition in Hollywood by winning four academy awards. One of the principal issues portrayed in this film is that of strategy, where the personal safety of the boxer is a key factor. And when a boxing match results in injury to a combatant, the dilemmas that follow are depicted in a touching manner. The film also depicts the world of aspiring boxers and the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring between boxing managers and promoters, in this case within female boxing. Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman are the other leading actors in this film that scooped Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Million Dollar Baby opens with a boxing match under way. Willie is the boxer who appears set to lose the fight. A few words of strategic advice from his manager Frankie Dunn - who is very well played by Clint Eastwood, as would be expected - results in positive change, thus establishing Frankie's expertise, which is one of the key elements in the plot. Frankie is then offered a title fight for Willie, which he rejects, as he believes his fighter is not yet ready. But Willie's eventual success or failure is not what this film is about. Incidentally, Frankie is shown as a character with a few skeletons in his cupboard. One of the reasons for Frankie's cautious approach to a title fight is a bitter experience from the past. Another is an estranged daughter, with whom he seeks to re-establish contact. The title of the film refers to Maggie Fitzgerald, a girl who wants to become a female boxing world champion and earn a million dollars. Maggie, whose role is well played by Hilary Swank, is a working girl who hopes of breaking out of her ordinary life of being a waitress, by becoming a boxing champion. Coming from a background of a clearly dysfunctional family and a hard life; she says for her, 'boxing is the only thing that makes me feel good'. But Maggie is 31 when she begins attending Frankie Dunn's gym. Therefore time appears to be against her, and Frankie is not keen on training her, despite her requests. But Maggie is determined to continue training on her own, hoping she will one day be able to convince Frankie to train her and take her to a title fight. The gym manager's role is played by Morgan Freeman of Shawshank Redemption fame. He plays a similar intellectual and calm role here, where his personality is in contrast to that of his friend, Frankie Dunn (played by Clint Eastwood). He is soft not harsh, and caring and accommodating, not only to Maggie, but also to a comic no-hoper male boxer calling himself 'Danger'. Maggie is the only female boxing hopeful in this otherwise male environment of boxing hopefuls. The film is mostly about Maggie's hopes of earning a million dollars in the world of female boxing, but the issues involved are, I suspect, common to male boxing as well. You don't have to be boxing fan to enjoy this film, which does not have the clich, all-round happy endings of typical Hollywood movies, and consequently makes it all the more interesting. |
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The legendry Hollywood actor also plays a leading role as Frankie Dunn, a
boxing trainer in his own gym. Not a normal fitness gym, but where budding
boxers train, sometimes under the guidance of Frankie. 
