It seems that Sri Lankan cinema is having a great year in 2023, with films like “Paradise” by Prasanna Vithanage and “Whispering Mountains”by Jagath Manuwarna. Visakesa Chandrasekaram follows in the same path with his latest feature, “Sand”, a movie that deals with the intense wound the war has left in the country.
In Water is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival
Five years after the Sri Lankan war, Rudran, a young man, is facing trial as an ex-Tamil Tiger militant, but is released on bail due to a debilitating leg injury. He returns to his village in the North Province with his mother, an aging soothsayer. While she spends her days in the spiritual realm, attempting to locate the whereabouts of those who have disappeared for a village community deeply bereaved, he spends his searching for his old girlfriend Vaani, in rehabilitation, and in the court for his trial. Danger, however, looms over the village still, while the fact that no one wants to speak about what happened in the past, adds more pressure to everybody, as the questions keep piling up.
Visakesa Chandrasekaram manages something very difficult, to create an atmosphere of almost constant tension, without any scenes that move towards this direction, or any of the editing and music “tricks” that are usually implemented. Instead, and despite a seemingly calm, slow paced approach, he manages to do so by having danger loom over the protagonists essentially constantly. The daily roadblocks mother and son have to pass from, the trial, the search for Vaani, the appearance of what appears to be a ghost, even Rudran's rehabilitation and the whether his leg will ever be ok all move towards this direction, creating a very appealing uncertainty about what is going to happen. As such, the only scene where actually something happens, emerges as one of the most shocking in the movie, both for its unexpectedness and the way it is resolved, for the protagonist at least.
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The aforementioned also allow Chandrasekaram to present how the particular society works nowadays, in a style that frequently appears documentary-like. The impact and authority the soothsayer has highlights how religion works, with the presence of soldiers all around, the way the trial unfolds and the fate of Vaani also moving towards the same direction. Furthermore, the filmmaker manages to present a number of comments about the impact of war, a concept that ruined the dreams of people, practically turning them into both victims and perpetrators. This last aspect is also the source of the most chilling scene in the movie, which becomes even more intense in the way Chandrasekaram presents it in the most natural fashion.
Rishi Selvam's cinematography also moves into documentary-like territory, with him focusing on presenting the rundown setting the story takes place with as much realism as possible, which extends to the houses, the rituals and the court. The second element is what gives the movie also a ritualistic essence that appears on occasion, and also works really well, also in the moments it goes into supernatural territory. The placement of these scenes, as much as the succession of what is, in essence, a repetitious cycle, is also greatly implemented in the narrative, thus highlighting the job Sithum Samarajeewa did in the editing department, also by retaining an unwavering slow rhythm.
Sivakumar Lingeswaran as Rudran is impressive throughout, giving a rather naturalistic performance, while retaining a wonderful sense of measure. The same applies to Kamala Sri Mohan Kumar as his mother, whose looks, however, occasionally steal the show in the movie. The two scenes mentioned above are where their acting finds its apogee, while their chemistry is evident throughout.
“Sand” is an excellent movie that manages to present a captivating, multi-leveled story while retaining a sense of intense realism and presenting its comments in the most eloquent fashion.
