Sober film craze

By Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools
Wisdom cannot be passed from one
having it to another not having it.
Wisdom is of the soul, is not
susceptible of proof, is its
own proof.
Walt Whitman (1819-1891)
US Poet

A work of sophisticated typography that could even claim the status of semi-coffee table book, landed on my conscience with something of a thud. The “thud”, was the outcome of the title of the publication – which read Bioscope Unmadaya in Sinhala. The author's English title for his creation is Film craze. The Sinhala expression Unmadaya is generally rendered into English as “madness”. The English usage “craze” is lexicographically defined as an “exaggerated and often transient enthusiasm – mania.”

Given such disturbing titles, there is no gainsaying that the book will impact upon a reader's mind (at least, initially) with what could be described as a ‘thud'.

Contrary to the unsettling impression given by the bilingual title, this work by versatile writer and perceptive social and art critic Piyasena Wickremage is a solid amassing of fresh thinking, that nudges you awake into certain realities, you may have missed in the course of your routine approach to some areas of cinema culture.

Personal views

This in brief, is an appealing array of thoughts, conveying the author's personal views, threshed from his bumper harvest of individual experiences.

The presentation is not at all ‘crazy’ or ‘mad’, but it possesses an unmistakable personal flavour which perhaps deserves the epithet “eccentric” (of course in the best sense). Eccentricity is a state denoting deviation from the norm, or going away from accepted styles of behaviour. This departure could at times, be whimsical.

I remember a historical incident that was characterised as eccentric. When the funeral services were being conducted at the Church for Charles Darwin, it was reported, that his son right through the duration of the rites, had his hand-gloves hoisted on his head. This was noted as eccentric.

Film criticism

For the first time, the more enlightened levels of film criticism in Sri Lanka, Piyasena Wickremage has been able to take a profoundly focussed view of the fluctuating attitudes towards film-going, film-appreciation film distribution and film showing in this country.

He has opted to concentrate on a period of 60 years extending from Raj Kapoor's Barsaat of 1951 to Steven Spielberg's Lincoln of 2012.

When you consider a mass medium of the standard of cinema, the era that comes within his purview is an age that erupted with innovations, some of which are ultra modern even for the millennium. Today, we are on the verge of 3D film presentations almost on a routine basis.

In contrast to the state-of-the-art techniques of today, the early days that are selected by Piyasena Wickremage appear to be starkly primitive.

The eccentricity makes its beguiling presence felt, when you come under the spell of Piyasena Wickramege's peculiar language – use.

Ode in pruse

His introductory note, is a kind of ode in prose, for the transience of human society and man's institutions and structures. He personally experiences this change when his son is glued to the computer – screen totally unaware of what is going on around him.

His indulgent amazement at his son's digital reality provides him a point of departure, to reminisce on the theatrical film viewing in his youthful years.

Perhaps, the only articulate observer of this transient phenomenon in the current Sri Lankan context, the change from the theatrical to digital film viewing – is, centre Piyasena Wickremage.

Drawing upon his ample “memory archives” author Piyasena Wickremage, deftly paints a picture of the film – going society of the fifties and sixties.

He records this history with a remarkable sense of responsibility, arriving at the unerring decision that we should take the relay baton for the good of future cinema scholars.

The folk memories of film-going in the fifties and sixties, have either faded or are beginning to vanish from the hands of the elderly generation. Critic Piyasena Wickremage's dedicated effort is to keep this film lore recorded, against the possible total memory loss.

Commitment

I really esteem that commitment. If the elderly generation is persuaded to record these diminishing memories, those when taken collectively, will form a national chronicle of the early days of Sri Lanka's film culture.

Piyasena Wickremage traces the evolution of all aspects of film theatrically giving details of the cinema halls, that have seen the evolution.

His book is an exceptionally important collection of photographic relating to cinema.

Some of those images, he has been able to adorn his book with, are so rare that one cannot help raising the question how on earth did he discover all these.

In his concluding observations, he presents his own views about the urgent need to upgrade all aspects of film production and film preservation in our country.

Piyasena Wickremage's latest work Film Crazy is a multi-faceted work, which at times taken on the guise of a cinema archives in text and image.