In Search of Paradise

August 1, 2015, 4:04 pm

A hartal activist of 1953 being assaulted

by Randima Attygalle

Encapsulating the political evolution of nearly two centuries of a nation into two hours and 20 minutes of riveting audio-visual narration entails the mastery of a deft film-maker. So much so the celebrated film-maker of Hansa Vilak, Thunweni Yamaya, Suddilage Kathawa, Bawa Duka and Bawa Karma does not hesitate to call his documentary In Search of a Paradise his ‘sixth film’.

“Such was the effort that went into it,” recalled Dharmasiri Bandaranayake. It took the renowned film-maker and dramatist three years of rigorous historical and political research, seeking expert comments of scholars and the most Herculean task of editing it, to give the audience an experience of ‘not too much’ and ‘not too little.’

Based on Victor Ivan’s Paradise in Tears, which was commissioned by the Sahajeevana Centre for Coexistencein 2008, Bandaranayake’s documentary script by GaminiViyangoda, was first released in 2010. Paradise in Tears vividly portrays the historical evolution of the communal crisis of the country and traverses a period of nearly two centuries providing a pictorial resume and a narrative of the principal events that led to the ethnic crisis.

A journey of tensions

In a bid to give ‘life’ to the written word on chronicles of the nation’s journey through history and conflict in the book, Bandaranayake was invited by the Sahajeevana Centre to do a documentary film of the publication. In it, the film-maker searches for a ‘paradise lost,’ tainted by blood and ravaged by gunfire. It taps on a nation’s conscience, denouncing egoistical political agendas in which racial prejudice was conceived. Five years after the screening of the original documentary in English, Bandaranayake was once more commissioned by Sahajeevana to make the Sinhala version (Paaradisaya Soya). While the original narration was done by Eric Fernando in the English documentary, Bandaranayake himself gives voice in the recently completed Sinhala version. The credit for the English script too goes to GaminiViyangoda.

The portrayal of the historical evolution of the ethnic crisis in the country is unfolded in the documentary through various phases. Commencing from the country’s transition from feudalism to capitalism, the viewer is taken on an eventful journey of upheavals and tensions through the pre-Independence era marked by agitation for political reforms to the sowing of first seeds of communal violence and the beginning of the decline in the rule of law.

Arresting pictorial presentation

The documentary is supported by nearly 2,500 riveting photographs sourced from some of the country’s most coveted collections including the former Times of Ceylon archives, National Archives, Plate and the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon as well as some obtained from private collections. Voice cuts by renowned political and historical authorities such as Prof. Lorna Devaraja, Dr. Kumari Jayawardena, Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne, Michael Roberts and Victor Ivan testify to various phases of this historical evolution.

“The documentary, while appealing to the intellect of any viewer, is a journey of learning to a generation born in the war culture in the country, oblivious to the political tensions of an era not experienced by them,” asserted Banadaranayake.

The birth of a capitalist economy of a ‘deformed kind’ in which, nevertheless, an infrastructure of roads and bridges and a plantation economy complemented by a new administrative system introduced by the British, emergence of a new elite who exploited the business opportunities created by the colonial rule and the expansion of the education system fashioned on the missionary tradition engages the viewer in the first phase of the documentary. The symphonic mastery of Harsha Makalande blends with the agitation for political reforms by national leaders, tears of a motherland shed for her children who died not in vain to secure an independent nation for generations yet to be born.

The brewing of the communal crisis by the implementation of the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy rebuffed by visionaries such as Dr. Colvin R de Silva who prophesied, “two languages one nation, one language, two nations” reverberates throughout the unfolding of the political saga of the country.

The documentary ends with the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike assassination. However, as its creator asserts, the political turbulence to follow propagated by respective regimes to come is to be documented in the sequels to this documentary. Although a demanding and an ambitious scheme, Bandaranayake aspires to lend his labour the fellow Tamil expression as well.

“It is only then the true objective of this work will be accomplished – to revisit the wrongs committed by both parties resulting in the still prevalent ethnic disparity and to discover the paradise we all have a right to inhabit in brotherhood.”

Labour of a visionary artiste

The documentary also dispels the locally ingrained misconceptions that a feature film is necessarily a `15-minute business.’ “This is a very wrong understanding even espoused by local students of film studies,” says the film-maker who is inspired by Basil Wright’s Song of Ceylon collaborated by Lionel Wendt which is considered one of the best feature films in the world. Bandaranayake is also critical of those who shun documentary films of yesteryear as ‘outmoded’. “On the contrary they have depth and a vision which most so called modern documentary films lack.” The veteran artiste also questions the validity of local ‘cinema studies’ which have no place for the evolution of the Lankan cinema. He urges those who deliver the ‘modules’ to create a dialogue on the local art before crowing about ‘global waves’.

Bandaranayake who debuted as a film director through Hansa Vilak at the young age of 26, chides the ‘arrogance’ of most contemporary film-makers who fail to appreciate landmarks Sinhala cinema and their legendary creators. “This often leads their finer points being overlooked,” he laments.

Testifying to this is the Course Coordinator and Chief Lecturer of Cinema and Film Making at SLTTI, Devinda Kongahage who says, “today we rarely come across visionary creators who could captivate an audience and Dharmasiri Bandaranayake is one such exceptional artiste.” He believes that a film maker should not be merely a “story teller”. He recalls how students of SLTTI who were privileged to be privy to Bandaranayake’s In Search of a Paradise were spellbound. “They were awe stuck and some of them candidly revealed that watching it made them dispel the notion that not all documentary films invite sleep but broaden horizons in an unimaginable way!”

In Search of a Paradise will be screened today at 2.30 p.m. at the BMICH under the patronage of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and on Thursday (Aug. 6) at 5.30 p.m. at the Film Corporation Auditorium (Tharanganee Cinema). Entrance is free and those who wish to reserve their seats should get in touch with Deeptha on 077-3908256.

(Pix Credit: Paradise in

Tears Victor Ivan)