Films from Sri Lanka are relatively rare, so this visually striking debut by Vimukthi Jayasundara, which won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 2005, will likely be of interest to fans of international cinema. Given the fact that Sri Lanka is a “forsaken land” wracked by civil war, it's no surprise that the film's theme should focus on the dehumanizing effect of prolonged conflict, but the approach here is ostentatiously artsy, with long, wordless scenes (many obviously symbolic) illustrating the tense but tedious nature of life in a region only recently pacified by an uncertain truce. The main characters are a military guard, his unfaithful wife, his unmarried sister, a young girl the sister protects, and an elderly man who tells the girl a story about the endless suffering of mankind, but it would be an exaggeration to call what transpires among them a plot in any conventional sense of the word. Rather, most of the time they simply wander about, posing in carefully composed scenes against incongruously lovely backgrounds. A work of existential filmmaking that is reminiscent of Michelangelo Antonioni's style, The Forsaken Land admittedly boasts remarkable imagery while offering a window into a world not often seen. Recommended, overall. (F. Swietek)
The Forsaken Land
New Yorker, 108 min., in Sinhalese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Sept. 2 Volume 23, Issue 5
The Forsaken Land
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