A Letter Of Fire

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"A Letter of Fire" confirms Sri Lankan helmer Asoka Handagama as a truly modern Asian filmmaker. Focusing on an aristocratic family plagued by Oedipal dramas, he boldly mixes Eastern and Western traditions with TV soap opera and experimental theater.

A richly cinematic work exploring, among other things, a family’s overly intimate ties, “A Letter of Fire” confirms Sri Lankan helmer Asoka Handagama as a truly modern Asian filmmaker. Focusing on an aristocratic family plagued by Oedipal dramas, he boldly mixes Eastern and Western traditions with TV soap opera and experimental theater. There’s a lot of fun in this ironic, over-the-top grab-bag, even if it doesn’t always make sense. While non-realistic acting and story will be beyond the pale for most auds, the pic could rally support from critics with a taste for the outer limits of edgy filmmaking.

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Like his fest fave “Flying With One Wing,” which told the story of a woman living disguised as a man, pic contains some surprisingly explicit scenes and the startling use of nudity. Its daring is likely again to raise controversy domestically and some eyebrows abroad.

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For international auds, a bigger stumbling block could be the references to Sri Lankan history, society and politics casually woven through the story. Viewers will have to let themselves be swept up in a sprawling, over-long tale spiked with distinctive characters and outrageous scenes. That most of the dialogue is in English, motivated by the upper-class setting, is a help.

A retired judge (Ravindra Randeniya) and his flamboyant young wife (Piyumi Samaraweera), who is also a famous magistrate, inhabit a cavernous colonial mansion with their 12-year-old son (Isham Samzudeen) and a maid (Jayani Senanayake) who shares her bed with the husband. The mother’s closeness to her son soon appears a tad unhealthy as they take a bath together, with offspring ogling mom’s large breasts. In an ecstatic monologue to motherhood, she explains that she has stopped sleeping with her husband since the boy was born; she believes a child is an extension of a woman herself and paramount in a woman’s life.

One day her son, spoiled and naive, innocently kills a famous prostitute. To spare him the legal consequences, Mom hides him in the humble residence of a security guard (Saumya Liyanage) at the Museum of Asian Civilizations. As the police close in, she loses her poise, and confesses all her terrible secrets to the terrified guard in an unforgettable scene inside the museum.

The 141-minute film loses momentum half-way through, as the distraught mother theme begins to repeat itself like a musical refrain, and Samaraweera’s mother slowly pulls all the family skeletons out of the closet. The story comes to life again in an electrifying pas-de-deux between magistrate-mother and the museum guard, leading to a tragically over-the-top, Faulkner-like finale.

Samaraweera headlines a cast of sharply drawn characters, who, like their tongue-in-cheek dialogue, are more symbolic than real.

Also notable are Randeniya as the distinguished grey-haired father, who family traumas have left impotent, and Liyanage as a spontaneous working man unable to handle the myth-sized female sexual power that the mother unleashes.

Technical work plays into the film’s ambiguous meanings. Cinematographer Channa Deshapriya’s textured lensing and imaginatively composed shots are a pleasure to watch, mixing with sound and music to create abrupt changes of register and irony. Sunil Wijerathna’s museum sets featuring a statue of a big-breasted Hindu goddess are used to great effect.

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A Letter Of Fire

France-Sri Lanka

  • Production: A Be-Positive (Colombo)/Heliotrope Films (Paris) co-production in association with Sanhinda Films. (International sales: Heliotrope Films, Paris.) Produced by Iranthi Abeysinghe, Laurent Aleonard. Co-producer, Upul Shantha Sannasgala. Directed, written by Asoka Handagama.
  • Crew: Camera (color), Channa Deshapriya; editor, Ravindra Guruge; music, Harsha Makalanda; production designer, Sunil Wijerathna; costume designer, Athula Sulthanagoda; sound (Dolby Digital), Kalinga Gihan Fernando, Lionel Bouhnik. Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (Zabaltegi), Sept. 18, 2005. Running time: 141 MIN.
  • With: Mother - Piyumi Samaraweera Father - Ravindra Randeniya Museum Guard - Saumya Liyanage Servant - Jayani Senanayake Boy - Isham Samzudeen With: Dinithi Sevwandi, Gayani Gisanthika, Deshith Gamage. (English, Singhalese dialogue)

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