A searing documentary, filmmaker Callum Macrae's No Fire Zone focuses on the final months of the long civil war in Sri Lanka that pitted the secessionist Tamils against the government. The opening serves as prologue, briefly sketching Sri Lanka's history from 1948, when the country gained independence from Britain, through 2008, putting special emphasis on the quarter-century struggle that the revolutionary Tamil Tigers fought against a regime they considered repressive. Macrae doesn't whitewash the brutality perpetrated by both sides, but he centers on the period from January through May of 2009, when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, having inflicted major defeats on the Tigers, determined to end the hostilities once and for all. As the film shows—drawing on evidence from U.N. observers on the ground and Tamil survivors, as well as footage actually taken by military soldiers engaged in the operation—the government established supposedly safe “no fire zones” in the north of the country, where operations against the rebels were underway. And then—after the arrival of thousands of civilian refugees—the government bombed these locales while refusing to send shipments of food and medicine. The troops also tortured and summarily executed rebel fighters, among them the young son of one of the Tiger leaders. Filled with images of shocking immediacy—including explicit scenes of killings—No Fire Zone is a very difficult film to watch, but one with great significance, enhanced by a last segment showing that the government officials in charge of the massacres are still in power, untouched by international censure and actively working to prevent Macrae's film from distribution. Presented with both the full-length version and a 54-minute abridgement, this deeply unsettling film is essential viewing for anyone interested in the cause of human rights. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
No Fire Zone
(2012) 93 min. In English & Tamil w/English subtitles. DVD: $300. DRA. Film Platform (avail. from www.filmplatform.net). PPR. Volume 30, Issue 2
No Fire Zone
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