The Forsaken Land
12 September 2005, the wee hours
When I saw the Singhalese girl washing her breasts on camera, I knew The Forsaken Land wasn’t going to be a typical Sri Lankan film. The film is very similar in style to Battle in Heaven. Shots in the film are very long. There is basically no dialog in the movie. I think the script could fit on two sheets off paper. The movie is a bleak look at the lives of people living in rural Sri Lanka. The movie was billed as a commentary on the civil war in the in Sri Lanka, but the film is perhaps a bit too obtuse to provide any insight whatsoever into the situation on the ground. I thought the film was interesting to watch, but it is most definitely not for everyone. It was a very challenging film to sit through. I am curious to see what the director does next. This movie has earned him many accolades at the Cannes film festival.
I don’t know if you can look at this film as some sort of direct commentary on the war. It seems like the war provides the context and framework to tell a personal story or stories.
by mk on September 12 2005, 3:12 am #
Mr Vimukthi who won prestigious Caméra d’Or for a feature film at Cannes Festival, was a Great Sri Lankan for me, until I saw the film by myself…
What he tries to tell,he has taken Sri Lankan Army, all men & women in those areas for granted to earn an award…This is not at all reality neither a fiction, so where it stands..no where. This is simply his imagination…his dirty mind. He has humiliated & drastically insulted to let down respective, brave, innocent people in war hit areas. Despair violence, horror and death casual sex could be the only activity…in those areas but, they are Sri Lankans…not uncivilized animals to do raw sex all the time like by every one of them in that film.
He had emphasized only on sex, so this film does not have any balance…The jury would have decided to give an award to you,for selling all Sri Lankan values for nothing….Thankyou for doing so Vimukthi
by Niroshani on September 19 2005, 12:03 pm #
This is the worst film I ever watched. This doesn’t have nothing to do with the real Sri Lankan rural life. This film is a just a cheap sex film tried to capture people by sexuality.
Sri Lankan rural life is lot harder than this. But it is respectful. Most of the Sri Lankans are good specialy when it comes to sex.
I fully agree with Niroshani, the director made and others involved in the film made an unsuccesfull effort to sell Sri Lanka AND people who gave the award made an unsuccessfull effor to buy it.
Good Luck to Good People.
by Varuna on September 20 2005, 11:54 pm #
I think you are both taking the film too literally. That said, I’d like to suggest what he was actually trying to show with the gratuitous sex, but I am at a loss.
by ramanan on September 21 2005, 12:04 am #