With You, Without You

While making Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka, Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage has retained the principal essence of a short story but has indigenized it to give viewers an opportunity to understand how the life has become in Sri Lanka. The key highlight of the film is the depiction of how ordinary people are facing the tough life in the wake of a three decades long war which has made innumerable fissures in their lives. This film also works well as the poignant tale of an impossible love where the lovers are not able to come to terms with their apparent inequalities. One gets to see that such a lopsided relationship is doomed to failure as one has to choose between two difficult choices. As with other films of love story genre, depending on their sensibilities, audiences might sympathize with both protagonists as they represent misfortune and sorrow with which most men as well as women are familiar. Sri Lankan film "With You, Without You" is a good adaptation of a famous Russian short story called Krotkaya written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The story continues to find favors with different cinéastes as four different films have already been made about it.

I saw this movie last night at the Dublin Film Festival and the Director was present for a Q&A session. Not knowing much about Sri Lanka, the movie gave me great insights into the challenges the country is now facing after the war. It is a very universal topic unfortunately. The film is beautifully shot and the actors are good. On the other hand, the start is a bit slow (but worth the wait) and there are a number of scene "repetitions" that don't seem to bring much. The film is clearly a message to the Sri Lankan people and the Director, Prasanna Vithanage shared that the movie is facing an "uphill battle" to be allowed to be released in his country. I hope it makes it there because it is critical to face one's past. Not a chef d'oeuvre but certainly worth seeing.