Ira Madiyama

The filmed events take place over two days as the director, Visanna Prathanage, took pains to inform the audience in an interview about the film. It looks at 3 separate lives, a Muslim family fleeing from the Tamil Tigers focusing mainly on a young boy and his dog. A Sinhalese woman whose fighter pilot husband crashed in the north of the island several months ago and was captured by the Tigers, now she is increasingly desperate to find him. Finally there is a young man who on a trip with friends to a brothel discovers that his sister is working there. Their paths cross casually at the end of the movie but not in any meaningful way as in 'Amores Perros'. Although the events that take place may have great significance in the lives of the characters the director fails to make us feel much sympathy for any of the three. Any political statement or anti-war sentiment is very much played down. There is some nice photography of Sri Lanka but apart from that there is little that stands out about the movie. Despite its awards I believe that if it had come from anywhere but Sri Lanka it would have been consigned to daytime viewing on some obscure TV satellite channel.