Lester James Peries and the social imaginary
by Prof. Wimal DISSANAYAKE
As we celebrate the 90th birthday of Lester James Peries - the
architect of art cinema in Sri Lanka - it would be useful to revisit his
nineteen feature films and re - contextualize them in terms of changing
social circumstances and newer regimes of discourse. As with other great
Asian filmmakers such as Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa (Japan), Satyajit
Ray (India), Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan), Im Kwon-taek ( South Korea) Zhang
Yimou (China), the attempt to locate his work within newer conceptual
formulations and discursive formations is likely to pay rich dividends.
With 'Rekava' (Line of Destiny), Peries inaugurated the art cinema in
Sri Lanka; it constituted a formidable challenge to the existing and
bemused film culture, such as it was. However, it is with 'Gamperaliya'
(Changing Village) that he found a perfect concordance between the
chosen experience and the desired supple form leading to a cogent
lyrical poise. While 'Rekava' represented, in terms of cinematic art, a
bold attempt to transcend the formula-guided cinema that was prevalent
at the time, the experience itself did not carry complete conviction for
me as someone who was born and bred in a remote village ( similar to the
one depicted in the film); things did not quite add up.
However, with the production of 'Gamperaliya', 'Kaliyugaya' (The Age
of Kali) and 'Yuganthaya', (End of an Era) Lester James Peries was able
to fashion a cinema that was experientially authentic, that carried the
requisite social density and cultural modulation of meaning and that
carved out a concomitant cinematic poetics and representational
strategies for achieving his artistic ambitions. While 'Nidhanaya', (The
Treasure) in my judgment, is Peries' most accomplished work in terms of
willed cinematic art, and 'Wekanda Walauwa' (Mansion by the Lake) is
replete with Chekhovian visual symbolism, in this short essay I wish to
focus on 'Gamperaliya', 'Yuganthaya' and 'Kaliyugaya' as representing
Peries' measured attempt to explore the indigenous social imaginary in
terms of cinematography; his cinematic fingerprints are unmistakably
present in these works. In response to these films, Peries found, what
most conscientious filmmakers are incessantly looking for" the supreme
spectator with discernment.
The term social imaginary has been put into wide academic circulation
by the eminent philosopher Charles Taylor. This is indeed a concept that
I have deployed productively in some of my books on cinema. As Taylor
remarked, the concept of the social imaginary encompasses something much
wider and deeper than analytical schemes and intellectual categories
that scholars are in the habit of pressing into service in there
investigations. He calls attention to the ways in which they (people)
imagine their social existence, how they fit together with others, how
things go on between them and their fellows, the expectations which are
normally met, and the deeper normative notions and images which underlie
these expectations. Here, it is evident, that Taylor is focusing very
insistently on the existential and experiential dimensions of social
living.
Lester James Peries' 'Gamperaliya', 'Yuganthaya' and 'Kaliyugaya'
capture admirably the social imaginary of Sri Lanka. This was, to be
sure, facilitated by the fact that he based his three films on the
compellingly authentic trilogy of novels by Martin Wickremasinghe. I
have dealt at length with how these novels participate in the social
imaginary and the Sri Lankan public sphere in my book "Sinhala Novel and
the Public Sphere."
'Gamperaliya' reconfigures the collapse of the feudal social order
and the rise of the middle class. In 'Kaliyugaya', the fictional
discourse of cultural modernity that was given initial shape in 'Gamperaliya'
is carried forward vividly. 'Yuganthaya' can be read as an allegorical
conflict between capitalist and socialist forces contending to occupy
the consciousness of the people. Peries, in these films, found the right
visual registers as well as the persuasive tone to communicate these
meanings. What is interesting about Lester James Peries' attempt to
capture the social imaginary of Sri Lanka is that it is buttressed by
his deep conviction of the efficacy of cinematic realism and the
importance of humanism as a functional creed. Realism, for him, is not
merely a form of mimetic reflectionism but a poetic re-creation,
cinematic re-coding, of social reality where the locus of meaning shifts
to history and its inflections of human lives. Similarly, humanism, in
his judgment, is not merely a mind-set but also a mode of feeling and a
part of his representational arsenal.
In conclusion, Lester (hope you are reading this piece) while wishing
you health and happiness in the years to come, let me re-iterate the
fact that your singular contribution to the enrichment of Sri Lankan
cinema is deeply and indelibly etched in the national memory.
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